JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Rescue teams have freed two workers who had remained trapped underground at Harmony Gold’s Target mine, near Welkom, in the Free State, following a fall-of-ground incident on Monday afternoon.

Spokesperson Marian van der Walt confirmed that both employees had been rescued late on Monday and that they were both being treated in hospital. She noted that both were stable.

Two mineworkers had died in the fall-of-ground incident.

Van der Walt said that an in loco inspection of the mine would be get under way on Tuesday and that no mining was presently taking place in the area where the incident occurred. Measures were being taken to ensure that the area in the main decline where the rockfall took place is secured and that working places are supported and made safe. 

Nearly 130 workers have lost their lives in South Africa’s mining industry, so far, this year.

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