Yet another accident at BCL Mine
Onalenna Kelebeile | Wednesday June 22, 2016 18:00
Preliminary information sourced from the Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) shows that the seriously injured man, who is employed as a workman, was in the company of his superior when an ore-containing wall fell upon him.
BMWU president, Jack Tlhagale told Mmegi that the man is suspected to have sustained a fractured hip. Those who checked on him at the hospital yesterday said he was complaining that his body was not functioning from his waist downwards.
“He literally feared for the worst,” the BMWU president said.
The man, whose state of injuries is not exactly known, was part of a team that was preparing what in the mining lingo is known as ‘cleaning the face of the wall’ as part of initial preparatory work for the drilling process underground.
“That was a procedure to identify loose rocks or cracks into the hanging walls possibly due to a previous blasting procedure or so,” said Tlhagale yesterday.
He said whilst the injured man and his work mates were in the process of testing the strength of the walls, the unexpected happened.
“A rock just fell from the man’s side and hit him on the waist. When he fell to the ground, the wall collapsed covering him from his waist downwards,” Tlhagale revealed.
Tlhagale said their preliminary findings were that “the wall might have been loose. But, procedurally they seem to have been on course.” He however, emphasised that what is still unknown is the actual strength of the wall before it pushed the injured worker down with its weight.
“Normally, after a previous blast it’s advisable to check thoroughly for any loose rocks, lest such rocks collapse putting lives in danger,” he stated.
Just last month, four miners perished at the BCL mine after a rope snapped while workers were being transported in a cage at end of shift. Tlhagale stated yesterday that the Union was still in the dark, as it did not yet have the investigative report into the May 29 fatalities.
He expressed concern that without a bargaining council in the mining sector, matters were not working well for workers. “A bargaining council in the mining sector would mean that during times like fatalities, we would be able to have a platform to deal with such a report and be able to prevent similar accidents from recurring,” he noted.
Quizzed about the incident, the BCL Mine’s public relations and marketing manager, James Molosankwe said: “I am in the process of writing a press statement detailing what transpired (Monday) at the mine. Expect a press statement sometime today (yesterday).” The statement was not received by Press time.