Mining Weekly reports that attempts to inspect the localised geological conditions underground at Vantage Goldfields’ troubled Lily gold mine, in Barberton, have been aborted.
A Mine Rescue Service (MRS) risk assessment this week revealed deterioration along the 600 mm rescue shaft and the original ventilation shaft, rendering it unsafe to enter. The mine’s business rescue practitioner said in a statement on Thursday: “Given that the rescue shaft has been totally compromised [and] there is no second [exit] outlet [as required by law], the planned inspection cannot proceed.” The mine was temporarily closed and a rescue mission launched after a shaft collapsed on 5 February, leaving three employees trapped in a container underground. The initial retrieval and rescue of the container had been aborted after three attempts to retrieve it in February.
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