Rustenburg mineworkers suffer minor injuries at Impala Platinum’s 20 Shaft

Platinum group metals miner Impala Platinum (Implats) says an incident happened at its 20 Shaft, in Rustenburg, in the early hours of Thursday morning, that resulted in some mineworkers being trapped underground.

While the mine has not confirmed the number of trapped mineworkers, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) president Joseph Mathunjwa said in a statement that 18 mineworkers were believed to be trapped.

According to Mathunjwa, the cage skip rope snapped and trapped 9 mineworkers at Impala Platinum’s 20 Shaft. The rescue team then successfully brought the cage to the surface, along with the 9 mineworkers.

However, some contract workers servicing the vacuum pumps underground could not come out and the rescue team would use the 12 Shaft escape route to bring them to surface, said Amcu.

“Amcu prays that the injured employees who are still underground come out on surface alive and well,” said Mathunjwa.