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Last Updated: Wednesday, 3 October
2007, 23:33 GMT 00:33 UK

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More than 3,000 stuck in SA mine

The high price of gold has kept South Africa's
gold mines viable

More
than 3,000 workers are trapped deep underground in a South African
gold mine, officials have said.

A pipe broke, severing power cables to the lift and trapping
workers at the bottom of a 2.2km (1.4 mile) shaft.

Rescuers are planning to use an adjacent shaft to lift them out,
a spokeswoman for the mine's owner, Harmony Gold Mining, said.

The accident happened at about 1000 (0800 GMT), some 80km (50
miles) west of Johannesburg.

The spokeswoman, Amelia Soares, told the BBC that no-one was
injured and that the miners have access to water.

She said the bottom of the shaft, where they are trapped, is well
ventilated.

Rescuers are in contact with the miners and planned to begin
lifting them out very soon, she said.

However, it would take some time to bring out all the miners as
only 300 could be lifted out every hour through the adjacent
ventilation shaft, she added.

Rescuers first need to reconfigure the lift in the ventilation
shaft to carry the miners.

'Poor safety record'

Ms Soares said a "compressed pipe column" fell down the
mineshaft, damaging steel work in the shaft and cutting electrical
feeder cords connected to underground lifts underground".

The damage was only noticed late on Wednesday when miners working
the day shift tried to surface from the deep shaft they were working
in.

ELANDSRAND GOLD MINE

Elandsrand mine has 6.9 million ounces of
proven reserves

Located 80km (50 miles) west of
Johannesburg

It has two vertical shafts - a men/material
shaft and a rock/ventilation shaft

A new mine, to be finished by 2010, is being
built under the existing mine, which is still in use

Harmony Gold Mining bought the mine in
2001

She said there had been no collapse or cave-in and there was no
risk of flooding.

However, a spokesman for South Africa's National Union of
Mineworkers said they were extremely concerned for the miners'
safety.

"We are, you know, losing hope because... from six o'clock in the
morning up until now the miners might actually be suffocating,"
Lesiba Seshoka told the BBC.

"We are just crossing our fingers that something good will come
out of this."

The Elandsrand mine is in the Witwatersrand Basin, which holds
the world's largest gold deposit.

The mines there are among the deepest in the world.

Gold remains important to South Africa's economy, says the BBC's
Peter Biles in Johannesburg, but the industry has been in decline in
recent years.

The current high price of gold is keeping many otherwise marginal
mines open, our correspondent says.

Mr Seshoka said South Africa's mines have a poor safety record,
with about 200 workers said to have been killed in accidents in each
of the last two years.

Are you in the area? Have you been affected by this accident,
or have you seen or heard anything? Send your comments or pictures
using the form below.

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