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JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The TauTona shaft of gold miner AngloGold Ashanti has been closed for two months, which will mean a 1 500 kg loss of gold production.
The shaft has been closed so that repair to steelwork can take place safely, following the falling down a subshaft of a so-called "penthouse" - a heavy steel structure that shields personnel from falling material.
"It's a protection device," AngloGold Ashanti vice-president operations Johan Viljoen told Mining Weekly Online.
Nobody was injured in the incident at the 50-year-old mine and no damage was caused to infrastructure.
While it would normally take 12 hours to normalise a shaft after a incident of this nature, Viljoen said that inspection had found that there was a danger that more steel pieces could dislodge themselves.
As a result, management took a decision to close the mine in order to replace all the penthouses and cable brackets, which would take until December 22 in order to ensure that mineworkers were not put in danger during hoisting.
TauTona's 3 500 employees produce some 750 kg a month, which will not be produced for a period of two months.
Mining Weekly Online understands that AngloGold Ashanti will be discussing with the labour unions whether or not to allow the staff to be given leave until the mine reopens on January 3.
The physical repairs will cost some R7-million.
