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Another mineworker dies underground

Johannesburg - A man died after an "equipment incident" at an AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG] mine in Carletonville, the mine said on Monday.

"Preliminary investigations indicate that the deceased, an electrician, was fatally injured in a heavy equipment incident [on Sunday]," it said in a statement.

A full on-site investigation was underway.

"In the meantime, management has stopped activities relating to the lifting of equipment in the underground workings," the mine said.

"AngloGold Ashanti would like to express its sincere condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the deceased."

Last month, more than 20 workers, both legal and illegal, were killed underground.

At the beginning of the month, nine people died after a rockfall triggered a fire at the Doornkop mine of Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR].

In the same week, two more Harmony Gold mineworkers were killed in separate accidents - one at the Kusasalethu mine in North West, and the other at Joel mine in the Free State.

In the following week, a group of around 200 illegal miners were trapped in an abandoned mine shaft in Benoni on the East Rand.

Those rescued revealed the ruthless world of gangs and robbers existing underground. A rival group of illegal miners had reportedly thrown boulders down a shaft, trapping them underground, and stealing their gold. Two men were killed.

In the Free State, the naked bodies of two people, suspected to be illegal miners from Lesotho, were found in a shaft at the Eland mine in Welkom.

The highest number of fatalities were in Roodepoort, where the toll of illegal miners stood at 11 on February 27.

Most of them died from toxic gasses underground, paramedics said at the time.


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