News24 reports that a lawyer representing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) has told an inquiry there was still hope of recovering the container with the bodies of the three Lily Mine workers and getting the mine operational again.  

"This almost entirely depends on government intervention," human rights attorney Richard Spoor said on Wednesday.  The three employees were working in a lamp room housed in a shipping container on the surface when the collapse took place.  They disappeared into a sinkhole and were buried under tons of rock.  The rescue operation was abandoned when the mine’s owners, Vantage Goldfields, ran out of money.  The aim of the inquiry, which started on Monday, is to get to the bottom of what happened at Lily Mine, to ensure the same mistakes are not repeated.  The inquiry also seeks to give closure to the families of the three miners.  

• Read this report by Beatrice Shongwe in full at News24

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