Harare - Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] has confirmed a fatal underground incident at the Mimosa mine in Zimbabwe, which it jointly owns together with Sibanye Resources.
Implats spokesperson Johan Theron told Fin24 on Friday that the incident happened on Thursday morning. The name of the deceased has not yet been made public.
Employees at Mimosa had also confirmed the incident, saying a drill rig operator was fatally injured.
"It happened yesterday and the drill rig operator was working underground when he was trapped by the machine and sadly lost his life," an employee at the mine said.
Theron confirmed the "underground incident at the Mimosa Platinum Mine", but did not give finer details in an emailed response to inquiries.
"One of our drilling rig operators was fatally injured. The board and leadership team at the mine have extended their condolences the family and colleagues of the now deceased," said Theron.
Mimosa has since commissioned a detailed investigation into the incident "to examine all aspects of the incident and explore remedial actions as far as possible in order to ameliorate the risk" in future.
Last year, Mimosa mine also recorded an underground fatality and Zimbabwe government officials have been pressing the mine to enhance its safety mechanisms.
Mimosa chairperson Winstone Chitando said the mine has "been on a slow and steady expansion". In 2016, the mine produced 2 640 893 tonnes and has a target of about 2 632 978 tonnes for this year.
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