Reuters reports that precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater said on Thursday evening that five of 13 miners trapped underground in a shaft at its Driefontein operations had rescued, but one of the five had died.  

Thirteen miners were trapped underground at the company’s Masakhane mine west of Johannesburg earlier on Thursday following a seismic incident that happened at around 1.30pm and caused a fall of ground in an operating stope.  Sibanye-Stillwater said two of the employees were taken to a hospital and were in stable condition, while the remaining two were still being brought to the surface.  Another three employees had been located and were responding to rescue teams, the producer indicated.  Management said that it would “continue to make every effort to locate the remaining five employees who are unaccounted for, and return all the employees safely to surface.”

• Read this report by Tanisha Heiberg in full at Moneyweb
• Read a statement from Sibanye-Stillwater here

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