Another accident hits BCL mine
Hardly two weeks after four BCL miners lost their lives, another tragedy struck the troubled Botswana’s copper nickel producer in Selibe Phikwe on Monday night.
Reports from the copper nickel township are that one miner at around 1930hrs on Monday night found himself critically injured after a rock fell on him. “He was washing his face and suddenly a rock fell from a side wall and hit him on his waist. At the time of the injury, phones were not answered from 1945 until 2000hrs when the ambulance was called to rescue the injured miner,” reveals the source.
Botswana Mine Workers Union (BMWU) president, Jack Tlhagale commented that, “It is a deciding moment for government to stop procrastinating and take immediate action to address problems at BCL.”He said further delays in the name of investigations are not acceptable and can only lead to a large scale disaster. “In any event, there is nothing to investigate, causes are known to government,” he adds.
A retired expert shared that BCL should review their entire safety system, adding that, “They must remedy wherever they find any inefficiencies. There should be continuous internal and external reviews to see if the mine complies.”This publication has gathered that the BMWU has since negotiated a health and safety agreement with management and will do safety checks together as well as have a safety representatives in different constituencies. However, the Union has shown concern that when incidents or accidents happen, the management chooses to isolate union representatives.
“The representatives can therefore not force their way as they are afraid of being fired,” shares the Union president. A statement from BCL reads that, “We announce a regrettable incident that took place on Monday 20, 2016 at 19h30 at one of our mines, Phikwe Central, 850 Meter Level, 2500 cut and fill stope. 2.
Our preliminary assessment indicated that, this is incident involved a Workman who was assisting his Miner In-Charge to wash-down after blast during the re-entry process. It was in this process that a rock rolled down from the blasted muck pile (blasted ground) and struck the Workman in the body area and he sustained injuries,” concludes the statement.