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Johannesburg - Gold Fields [JSE:Gogof] said that further to the announcement issued on Tuesday May 27 2014 regarding the two recent fatal accidents at South Deep in South Africa, the department of mineral resources (DMR) on Tuesday evening completed an in-loco inspection of the scene of the second accident on the mine.
Following the inspection the DMR issued a Section 54 order, placing a moratorium on all workshop-related activities across the mine, pending the completion of a report back to the DMR in terms of Section 11(5) of the Mines Health and Safety Act.
This has effectively stopped all production on the mine. Management is working closely with the DMR to identify and mitigate the causes of the accidents and to ultimately have the Section 54 order lifted.
It is estimated that, as a consequence of the Section 54 imposed on the mine due to the two fatal accidents, there will be a deferral of approximately 300kg (9 645 ounces) of gold production by the end of this week.
It is estimated that a further 200kg (6 430 ounces) will be deferred due to the reassessing of working practices in all workshops and safety control systems on the mechanised mining fleet, in order to improve safety at South Deep.
The new management team, appointed at the beginning of this year, has concluded a comprehensive review of all safety protocols, procedures and standards across the mine. This is in line with the team's mandate to improve the mechanised mining culture on the mine, with specific emphasis on introducing international best practice standards on equipment availability and utilisation as well as the mechanised mining skills of employees.
The safety review has indicated that approximately 1 000m of legacy ground support in some of the ramps serving production areas in the older part of the mine, are below the international best practice standards at our international mines and present a safety risk.
At this stage of the build-up process, approximately 70% of the mine's production comes from these older areas of the mine above 95-level.
Following the inspection the DMR issued a Section 54 order, placing a moratorium on all workshop-related activities across the mine, pending the completion of a report back to the DMR in terms of Section 11(5) of the Mines Health and Safety Act.
This has effectively stopped all production on the mine. Management is working closely with the DMR to identify and mitigate the causes of the accidents and to ultimately have the Section 54 order lifted.
It is estimated that, as a consequence of the Section 54 imposed on the mine due to the two fatal accidents, there will be a deferral of approximately 300kg (9 645 ounces) of gold production by the end of this week.
It is estimated that a further 200kg (6 430 ounces) will be deferred due to the reassessing of working practices in all workshops and safety control systems on the mechanised mining fleet, in order to improve safety at South Deep.
The new management team, appointed at the beginning of this year, has concluded a comprehensive review of all safety protocols, procedures and standards across the mine. This is in line with the team's mandate to improve the mechanised mining culture on the mine, with specific emphasis on introducing international best practice standards on equipment availability and utilisation as well as the mechanised mining skills of employees.
The safety review has indicated that approximately 1 000m of legacy ground support in some of the ramps serving production areas in the older part of the mine, are below the international best practice standards at our international mines and present a safety risk.
At this stage of the build-up process, approximately 70% of the mine's production comes from these older areas of the mine above 95-level.
