Operations at Ekapa mine suspended as trapped miners remain underground

Operations at the Ekapa mine in Kimberley remain suspended amid a rescue operation to bring five miners trapped underground back to the surface.  

Technical teams are still on-site to rescue the mine workers who have been trapped since Tuesday, following a mudslide nearly a kilometre underground.  

Rising water levels underground continue to complicate the operation, which is now expected to run longer than anticipated. 

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Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe visited the mine on Friday and met with management and the technical teams on site.

"So here we have five people who are disappearing, who have not been found, therefore, it's a potential disaster. I don't want to do presumption of death. I'm not competent to do that. But if five people die in one accident, that is a disaster." 

Mantashe says mine safety remains a major concern, with the latest incident in the Northern Cape causing a dent to efforts to ensure zero harm in the industry. 

"We've just announced a record of forty-one deaths in the industry for the year twenty twenty-five, and we're starting this new year with a disaster, which is a bad sign for the industry."