SA mine safety under fire

AN ACCIDENT AT Harmony Gold’s Elandsrand mine — trapping 3 200 workers 2km underground for up to 30 hours early in October — was the tipping point for the South African government with regard to its mining industry’s safety performance. The Harmony incident — in which nobody died or was hurt — followed hard on the heels of four deaths in a rock fall 3.3km below the surface at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng mine. (…) South Africa’s largest mining group — Anglo American — has renewed its drive towards safer operations, driven by newly appointed CEO Cynthia Carroll, who has cracked down hard on the health and safety environment in South Africa. She’s taken a hard line on safety, a move Mines Minister Sonjica has commended. The first high profile casualty was Ralph Havenstein, CEO at Anglo Platinum, after 12 workers died at its Rustenburg operations this year. Some 29 people died at Anglo’s operations in first half 2007, the bulk at 75% held subsidiary Anglo Platinum. Havenstein shocked the market when he said he was retiring to make way for somebody else to take forward the company’s renewed safety strategy. It’s widely felt that Carroll asked him to leave. “The Group’s safety performance for the first half has been completely unacceptable. I’ve taken immediate action to address the safety situation, particularly at Anglo Platinum, and initiated a major new drive to improve safety,” Carroll says. “Outstanding safety is indicative of outstanding business performance. It’s the indicator. If you get safety right you can be sure everything else is going right.” At a safety summit of 130 Anglo managers in South Africa in June, Carroll demanded every business unit submit specific implementation plans by October to outline safety strategies that will be closely monitored. Image source: theage.com.au. > Continue.

News selected by Covalence | Country: South Africa| Company: Harmony Gold, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti | Source: miningmx