Recovery operations for 5 miners trapped at Ekapa mine underway

Recovery operations for five miners trapped underground following a mudslide earlier this month at Ekapa mine in the Northern Cape are underway.

Mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe says dewatering of the shaft has been completed, with teams now in the second phase of clearing stones and mud to reach the miners.

This week, mine management announced that it had applied for liquidation and that all mining operations have been shut down with immediate effect.

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Parliamentary mineral resources committee chairperson Mikateko Mahlaule says there were no clues that the mine was facing looming downfall.

"There were no red flags that Ekapa would be closing shop. What we were presented with was that the global prices are at their lowest in history, which makes doing business in the diamond space very difficult for any mine in the world. Secondly, the tariff imposed by the United States of America on countries has affected the market, and that was the only red flag that we got.”