Sibanye-Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman
Photo by: Creamer Media
JSE- and NYSE-listed Sibanye-Stillwater has resumed underground operations at its Thembelani shaft, in Rustenburg, following an incident that resulted in 1 800 workers being held underground on Tuesday.
The shaft has now been certified safe for normal hoisting operations.
The workers had been held back from being hoisted back to surface for their safety, after rails had come loose and fell down the shaft earlier on Tuesday.
The employees gathered at the shaft stations and were later safely hoisted from the fourteenth level that evening after the shaft inspection confirmed that it was safe to do so.
Spokesperson James Wellsted told Mining Weekly Online previously that no workers had been injured and that the area was ventilated, while workers received water, food and other supplies as necessary.
The inspection of the shaft infrastructure was necessary to ensure the shaft was cleared of rails and that there was no damage to the metal work.
“The removal of the fallen rails, shaft repair work and independent assessment of the shaft was also completed safely and without incident, which is testament to the deep levels of competence within our organisation.
“We will now focus on establishing exactly what caused the rails to dislodge,” said CEO Neal Froneman.