NUM blasts management over rockfall fatalities
JOHANNESBURG – Four mine workers died at the Tau Lekoa gold mine in Orkney, North West, which is owned by Hong Kong-listed Heaven-Sent Gold following a rockfall on Saturday, sending shock waves across the mining industry.
The gold sector’s biggest trade union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), blamed management for the fatalities, saying they could have been prevented.
The union alleged that employees who were at the scene had managed to rescue one of the miners but management had stopped the team leaders and winch drivers from rescuing the four mineworkers who were still trapped underground.
NUM president Joseph Montisetse said the employees had informed him that they were deliberately stopped from rescuing the four other trapped mineworkers by a “white proto team”.
“Our members told us that if they had been allowed to rescue those four mineworkers on Friday afternoon, they could have been found and rescued alive.
Source: iol.co.za
