South African miner Harmony Gold has reported two fatalities at its mines in a two-day period.
On 2 May, the company confirmed a single fatality of an underground construction employee at its Mponeng operation near Careltonville, Gauteng province.
At the time of its statement, Harmony said an investigation had begun to determine the nature of the incident. It did confirm, though, that the individual was working on rail maintenance.
On 3 May, Harmony again confirmed a fatality, this one at its Doornkop mine in Soweto, Gauteng province, on 2 May.
The victim, a rock drill operator, died in a fall-of-ground incident. An investigation into that incident is also in progress.
“At Harmony, safety is our foremost priority. A safe mine is a productive one – never the other way around,” Harmony officials said following the second fatality.
“These tragedies serve as a harsh reminder that we can never be complacent and much more still needs to be done to achieve our goal of zero loss of life. We continue focusing on embedding risk management practices throughout Harmony to help eliminate accidents in the workplace,” added CEO Peter Steenkamp.
Harmony confirmed it was planning a company-wide Safety Day this week as a reminder of the critical importance that good safety practices play in safeguarding our future. It did not release the date for that initiative.
Source: Harmony Gold