Health & safety


Winches I


magine being hundreds of metres below the earth – nearly as deep, in fact, as the Burj Khalifa is tall – when something goes wrong. An explosion, you guess, from the muffled crash somewhere in the darkness nearby. And then you hear another noise. Though you don’t know it, that’s the sound of stone and dirt and mud, altogether weighing about the same


World Mining Frontiers / www.nsenergybusiness.com


to the rescue


From Mexico to China, mine collapses are a constant threat to the people who work beneath the earth. And with many current rescue winches proving to be too short or too slow, it can take a painfully long time to extract victims once help fi nally does arrive. Andrea Valentino chats with Mannas Fourie, CEO of MRS Training & Rescue, and Martin Preece, executive vice-president at Gold Fields, about the limitations of existing rescue winches, why a new model is faster and less cumbersome, and how other countries may soon be following in South Africa’s footsteps.


as five city buses, collapsing round your ears. Then, finally, there’s silence, except for the sharpness of your breath and the beating of your heart. This might sound like a fever dream. In fact, it’s what a real group of Chinese gold miners suffered earlier this year. Working in the coastal province of Shandong, 600m underground, a pair of explosions


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MRS Training & Rescue


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