South African junior miner Aurora Empowerment Systems had to evacuate workers at its Orkney mine on Wednesday, after a fire broke out at the operation, the company, headed by Nelson Mandela's grandson Zondwa Mandela, said on Thursday.

Aurora CEO Dawid Stander said in an interview that the fire was having a 300-t/d impact on production.

The company said that it had notified the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) about the fire.

"The DMR worked closely with mine management to evaluate the situation and set an action plan in motion.

"Orkney's mine rescue services were dispatched to the mine, and the night and day shift have been withdrawn from the affected areas at the number four shaft in the interests of safety."

Aurora said that Mine Rescue Services immediately began sealing off affected areas to gain control over the fire.

A media statement said that it was expected that the fire would be extinguished during the course of Thursday.

However, Stander told Mining Weekly Online that he was unsure when the company would be able to extinguish the fire, owing to the high levels of gas in the shaft.

He said that it was not possible to tell what the overall damage would be, because the company could not yet account for infrastructure damage.

Once working conditions were normalised and readings were within acceptable limits, operations would resume. The exact cause of the fire had yet to be established.

Aurora bought the former Pamodzi mine last year, after the gold company was liquidated.

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