Seven workers have died and eleven more receive minor injuries following an accident at the Golden Valley Mine at Patchway in the Kadoma District of Zimbabwe at about 6.00 pm local time on Monday 9 June 2014. The workers wee in a hoist cage descending to begin their shift when for some reason the cage apparently ran out of control, dropping rapidly through the last 80 m of the 425 m shaft into a pool of water. The eleven surviving minors were able to escape through a hatch on the top of the lift, seven of the men were trapped and drowned. The cause of the accident is not yet known and the mine is currently closed pending an investigation by the Ministry of Mines and Mining Development.
The approximate location of the Golden Valley Mine. Google Maps.
Golden Valley is one of a number of small gold mines around the Kadoma district of Mashonaland West. Fatalities at mines in Zimbabwe are sadly not uncommon, particularly in smaller mines where safety standards tend to be low, although the Golden Valley Mine is reported to have a good safety record by the Associated Mine Workers Union. The Chamber of Mines of Zimbabwe recorded 35 deaths in mines in the country in 2013.
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