Mining Weekly reports that the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) indicated in a statement last week that it had learnt of the death of another worker in a fall-of-ground (FoG) accident at gold producer Harmony Gold’s mines.

According to the reports received, on 24 May there had been a FoG at Tshepong North shaft. The injured worker had been sent to hospital for further medical attention, but he passed away on 30 May. The union is still awaiting the preliminary report from Harmony. “FoG incidents remain unacceptably high in the South African mining industry. Ten FoG fatalities have been recorded this year. Transport- and mining-related incidents account for a further eight fatalities. The total number of mine fatalities to date is 23,” the union pointed out. It noted that the latest fatality was the tenth death at Harmony this year. As previously reported, an employee died in an incident at Harmony’s surface operations at the Saaiplaas reclamation camp, in Virginia, in the Free State, on 27 April. This followed only two days after the death of an employee in a locomotive-related accident at Harmony's Moab Khotsong mine on 25 April. A FoG incident at the company’s Mponeng mine, in February, claimed the lives of two employees, while another five lost their lives in two separate incidents at the Doornkop and Joel mines in the same month.

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