Africa-Press – South-Africa. Employees at Sibanye-Stillwater’s Cooke operations were successfully evacuated from underground after power lines collapse as a result of theft and vandalism.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Eskom said its team of technicians restored electricity supply to Sibanye Gold operations in Randfontein, when miners were unable to resurface due to a supply interruption caused by power lines that fell during a storm.
“The miners, who were trapped in the mine after the collapse of power lines, were safely evacuated when supply was restored on Monday, 20 February 2023,” the utility said.
A spokesperson for Sibanye-Stillwater said the employees in question formed part of the care and maintenance crew, as the operations in question – the Cooke underground operations – had ceased operating in 2017.
The mining company also said it was its own emergency backup power which kicked in, allowing workers to resurface.
The 132 kV lines linked to the Cooke operations fell as the integrity of the pylons along these lines was compromised, having been weakened by the theft of the tower members and the unstable ground caused by digging around the foundation.
The tower members refer to the steel parts which form part of a transmission tower’s structure.
Supply has been restored to Cooke shaft 1. Eskom said technicians are still and working to restore power to Cooke shaft 3.
The instability and collapse of pylons carrying high voltage lines like these pose a serious risk to the public, the utility said.
“This criminal practice has an additionally devastating impact on the economy and on Eskom’s ability to sustain the provision of electricity. The power utility spends a fortune on the replacement of stolen pylon parts and other network equipment.”
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