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Business Reporter
THE accident that resulted in the death of one employee and injured two other workers at Blanket Mine last week has been attributed to the collapse of a foot-wall ground after a wedge on the end of a long hole stope bench broke off.Caledonia Mining Corporation, the Toronto Stock Exchange-listed co-shareholder in the indigenised Matabeleland South-based Blanket Mine, dismissed recent media reports that the accident was the result of an underground explosion.
“The accident occurred as a result of a fall of foot-wall ground when a wedge on the end of the 545 Level AR South long hole stope bench broke off unexpectedly and fell down to the bottom of the stope,” Caledonia said.
‘‘Long hole stoping’’ can be described as blast holes drilled parallel to an advancing tabular ore body stope panel or face and blasting the reef into a gully for cleaning.
Stoping is the process of extracting the desired ore or other mineral from an underground mine, leaving behind an open space, which is known as a stope
The TSX-listed firm said Blanket is now assisting the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development (Inspectorate Department) in its enquiry into this incident.
Caledonia said that until such a time as the outcome of the Government’s enquiry has been reached, no further details can be released.
“It is with regret that management of Blanket Mine confirms that an accident took place on the evening of August 14 as a result of which one Blanket employee was killed and two employees were injured,” Caledonia said yesterday.
The employee who was killed in the accident is Mr Elvis Zhou and the two employees who were injured were Mr Maxwell Tesyisi and Mr John Mathe.
But the Canadian-registered firm said “contrary to wholly inaccurate and unverified reports in the media there was no explosion in the vicinity of the accident”.
Statistics released by the National Social Security Authority at a belated commemoration of World Occupational Health and Safety Day held at Meikles Park here in May this year showed that between January 2013 and May 14 2013, the country had recorded 32 fatalities and 959 injuries at workplaces.
According to the data from the International Labour Organisation two million people die from work-related accidents annually with 268 million people getting injured while an average of three days’ work is lost due to the injuries.
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