This comes just three days after one worker lost his life and four of his colleagues sustained injuries, whilst two of the four were left critical after a rockfall at the mine at Theunissen outside Bloemfontein. 

According to a well-placed source in the upper echelons of the mining industry, the driver of a front loader today had a fatal accident when his loader fell on top of two miners, who died on the scene. The source says the driver of the loader is also among those who died. The brakes on the loader allegedly failed and led to this accident which claimed the lives of these three mineworkers.

OFM News confirmed today's accident at the Beatrix Mine with Sibanye Stillwater's Senior Vice-President and Head of Investor Relations, Mr James Wellsted. The mine is expected to issue a press release soon.

READ MORE: Mineworker dies, four left injured

OFM News reported on Wednesday about the first incident this week, which happened after a possible blast that led to the dislodging of a rock that killed a worker and injured four of his colleagues. The deceased went missing after the blast and he was found dead in a panel. The mining industry has experienced a somber week with more workers reported dead in the North West.

READ MORE: Operations at Implats in NW remain suspended after retrieval

The mining operations at Impala Platinum’s shaft 6 in Rustenburg were suspended on Tuesday following the retrieval of the mineworkers who were trapped underground after a mud-rush incident at the weekend.

Mining Weekly's Simone Liedtke reported on Wednesday that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has expressed concern about the death of a mineworker at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Beatrix operation in the Free State on November 30.

The union stated that, according to a report received, a suspected blasting incident happened at 3 North Shaft at Beatrix, resulting in a fall of ground that injured four mineworkers and killed one winch driver.

Sibanye-Stillwater confirmed the incident to Mining Weekly on Tuesday via email, adding that the remaining four employees are in a Welkom-based hospital under observation.

The union also reported on December 1 that the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy (DMRE) and the Amcu branch leadership had gone underground at Beatrix on November 30 to perform an in loco inspection.

However, Amcu health and safety national chairperson Xolani Bokoloshe was unable to confirm whether this incident was “the result of blasting or whether it happened owing to erosion on the face”.

He reiterated that Amcu had consistently called for the strengthening of the DMRE through the Mine Health and Safety Act (MHSA), and specifically for mine bosses to be held criminally liable for accidents where negligence can be proven.

The union has previously made submissions for amendments to the MHSA to hold mining bosses accountable.

Amcu also recently called on the DMRE to lead an inquest into the rising mining fatalities. There has been no update yet in this regard, though Sibanye emphasised that "all incidents are investigated with the regulators and other stakeholders and remedial efforts made to try and prevent incidents occurring in future".

The total number of fatalities for 2021 currently stands at 65, already surpassing the fatalities of 2020 (60) and 2019 (51) at year-end.

OFM News