Two months after three miners were swallowed up by a sinkhole‚ the mining house is trying to design a plan to not only recover their bodies‚ but also restart operations.
No one has been able to get close to the site where Yvonne Mnisi‚ Pretty Mabuza and Solomon Nyarenda disappeared on Febuary 4‚ because the ground at Lily mine in Mpumalanga is too unstable.
Vantage Goldfields‚ which owns the mine‚ is currently designing and trying to raise funds to construct an incline shaft that will allow access.
“It will have to take the weight of construction vehicles into the mine‚” said the mine’s spokesperson Coetzee Zietsman.
He said companies were doing a survey of the ground‚ and working out its geological make-up. It is expected to be a six-month process. The incline shaft would start 800m away from level 5‚ where most of the work was being done at the mine.
“This section does remain stable‚” he said.
Currently‚ the 917 workers at the mine were not working he said.
Once the shaft is built‚ work could continue in trying to recover the bodies of the three miners.
The first task he said would be to try and locate where the container is. The three miners were in the mobile office when plunged 80m into a sinkhole‚ when the road outside of the entrance to the mine collapsed.
During the rescue operation in the days following the incident‚ proto team rescue members attempted to find the mobile office‚ but were hampered by huge boulders. The rescuers were forced to use explosives‚ and were able to reach a depth of 120m.
Attempts were made to use ground-penetrating radar‚ but this proved unsuccessful.
“When we have figured out where the container is‚ then we need to work out how to get there‚” Zietsman said.
But Mabuza’s sister‚ Gladys Nkambule‚ said she was remains angry. “There is no work and we feel stranded‚” she said.
– TMG Digital/The Times
Six-month survey on cards before Lily mine recovery mission resumes
Two months after three miners were swallowed up by a sinkhole‚ the mining house is trying to design a plan to not only recover their bodies‚ but also restart operations.
No one has been able to get close to the site where Yvonne Mnisi‚ Pretty Mabuza and Solomon Nyarenda disappeared on Febuary 4‚ because the ground at Lily mine in Mpumalanga is too unstable.
Vantage Goldfields‚ which owns the mine‚ is currently designing and trying to raise funds to construct an incline shaft that will allow access.
“It will have to take the weight of construction vehicles into the mine‚” said the mine’s spokesperson Coetzee Zietsman.
He said companies were doing a survey of the ground‚ and working out its geological make-up. It is expected to be a six-month process. The incline shaft would start 800m away from level 5‚ where most of the work was being done at the mine.
“This section does remain stable‚” he said.
Currently‚ the 917 workers at the mine were not working he said.
Once the shaft is built‚ work could continue in trying to recover the bodies of the three miners.
The first task he said would be to try and locate where the container is. The three miners were in the mobile office when plunged 80m into a sinkhole‚ when the road outside of the entrance to the mine collapsed.
During the rescue operation in the days following the incident‚ proto team rescue members attempted to find the mobile office‚ but were hampered by huge boulders. The rescuers were forced to use explosives‚ and were able to reach a depth of 120m.
Attempts were made to use ground-penetrating radar‚ but this proved unsuccessful.
“When we have figured out where the container is‚ then we need to work out how to get there‚” Zietsman said.
But Mabuza’s sister‚ Gladys Nkambule‚ said she was remains angry. “There is no work and we feel stranded‚” she said.
– TMG Digital/The Times
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