JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South African gold-miner Harmony Gold on Wednesday reported that its Unisel shaft, at the Virginia operations in the Free State, would reopen on Thursday morning, after a fatal accident on Tuesday morning.

Harmony spokesperson Marian van der Walt told Mining Weekly Online that the miner had been killed on Tuesday morning when a rock dislodged from the sidewall. After visiting the site on Wednesday morning, the Mineral Resources department issued a Section 54 notice, however, Van der Walt noted that operations at the shaft had already ceased by that time.

She noted that the mine had lost between 7 kg to 8 kg of production during the time that operations were suspended.

The fatality follows shortly after platinum producer Impala Platinum reported nine fatalities in a recent underground fall-of-ground incident, at its Number 14 shaft, at the Rustenburg operations.

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