The resumption of operations at the Rustenburg mine is standard operating procedure. Whenever there is a death in a South African mine, it typically closes for a few days but then reboots. This is for safety reasons: The longer a mine is closed, the more dangerous the operating environment becomes. 

Implats spokesperson Johan Theron told Daily Maverick that while the restart was commencing from Thursday, production would likely only resume next week. 

“People are traumatised so we are going slowly and carefully. The object is not to minimise production losses, but we need to get going again. The longer it stays shut the more dangerous it becomes to restart,” he said. 

But 11 Shaft, the scene of the disaster, and its sister shaft 11C will remain closed until sometime in the new year, Theron said. 

“They are going through a separate process because there is an investigation that needs to be done there, teams need to go in and take pictures and take measurements. There is also significant infrastructure damage,” he explained. 

The system is used in mining operations globally, so the findings of the investigation will be of more than just local interest.

The investigation would focus on why the automatic control system malfunctioned and why the safety systems did not initiate an alarm when the multilevel cage taking the 86 employees to the surface suddenly reversed course into a harrowing rapid descent. 

The system is used in mining operations globally, so the findings of the investigation will be of more than just local interest. Conveyor cage or elevator accidents are relatively rare in South Africa and the wider global mining industry. 

The disaster is a huge setback to the South African mining sector’s drive to “zero harm”. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Failure of emergency protocol led to death of 11 Implats miners after ‘rapid descent’ of conveyance cage

In 2022, deaths in South Africa’s mining industry hit a record low of 49 for a single year since the start of industrial-scale operations in the late 19th century. While still a shocking number, this was less than a fifth of the 2003 death toll of 270. In the 1980s as many as 800 miners were killed in a single year. 

But the Implats disaster means that at least 52 miners have been killed on the job in 2023, already exceeding the 2022 industry toll.

The incident is also a fresh blow to the sector at a time when it is grappling with plunging prices for platinum group metals, with widespread layoffs looming. DM