Vantage Goldfields: Buried in difficulties
Lily gold mine has been joined in business rescue by its sister mine Barbrook, as community unrest has made it problematic to operate and hoped-for funding has not materialised
The tragedy at the Lily gold mine, where workers have been unpaid since operations were suspended after an accident in April, deepened in December when its sister mine, Barbrook, was also placed in business rescue. The two mines, near Barberton, are owned by an Australian company, Vantage Goldfields. In February the crown pillar at Lily collapsed and a lamp room with three employees in it plunged to the bottom of an 80m-deep sinkhole. The bodies have never been recovered, despite extensive and costly rescue attempts. Lily was subsequently put into business rescue. Immediately after the accident mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane said mining at Lily could not resume until the bodies had been recovered. Terrible though it is for families, it is not always possible to recover bodies after mining accidents. For example, 16 of the 20 people killed in the November 1996 mudslide at Rovic Diamond Mine in the Free State were never found because they were buried under thousands of ton...
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