A gold panner died and four others escaped unhurt after a Bulawayo City Council quarry pit in Parklands suburb collapsed on them while they were illegal mining gold.
The incident occurred yesterday morning at corner of Cecil Drive and Coglan Avenue.
The gold panners discovered that the gravel from the quarry pit that was being used to rehabilitate a section of Cecil Drive had gold hence they were now searching for gold in the pit.
There are heaps of gravel from the quarry pit along Cecil Drive whuich is being rehabilitated by the council.
The discovery of the gold in the gravel has attracted many gold panners who operate mainly under the cover of darkness.
When a Chronicle news crew visited the site of the incident yesterday at about 11AM, the body was yet to be collected.
Two gold panners were on site together with police officers conducting investigations.
One of the panners said he knew the deceased as they had previously worked together at Queens in Inyathi, Bubi District.
“I wasn’t here when it happened but as a gold panner when you hear that a shaft has collapsed, you rush to find out who was involved.
“When we came here we were told that one person died while four others survived,” said a gold panner who did not want to be identified.
He said he positively identified the victim who comes from Lupane.
The gold panner also assisted police officers in contacting the deceased’s family.
He said the shaft collapsed when the panners were working underground.
“This is a council pit so these guys were operating illegally. These are some of the hazards that we face as we try to eke a living. Do I quit because of this? No. Do you stop driving because there has been an accident? So, to me this was just an accident at work,” he said.
He said the panners discovered that there was gold in the area when they found gold nuggets in the gravel that the council is using to rehabilitate the road.
Bulawayo deputy police spokesperson Assistant Inspector Nomalanga Msebele confirmed the incident.
“We received a report that an illegal gold miner died while four others escaped when they city council quarry shaft collapsed on them this morning.
“The gold panners illegally entered the quarry pit and started digging for gold, unfortunately the shaft collapsed on them leading to the death of the panner,” said Asst Insp Msebele.
She said the four who escaped, disappeared from the scene.
Asst Insp Msebele warned gold panners against mining at undesignated areas.
Bulawayo has several gold deposits around the city and council has issued mining licenses in some areas.
Council said recently that gold panners had invaded Woodlands while threatening Insiza/Inyankuni pipeline servitude and a tail of Umzingwane dam.
“Illegal mining activities are being conducted in Woodlands, about 1km off the Ncema Treatment Works access road.
“The illegal mining activity have also been observed on the servitudes of the Flowserve, Sulzer and the 30inch clear water pipelines from Ncema Treatment Works to Fernhill Booster Station.
“The closest mining shafts were 5m and 11m away from the pipelines – within the 30m red-zone reserved as servitude for pipeline activity, repair works and maintenance,” read the recent council minutes.
According to the minutes, Town Clerk Mr Dube said urgent attention needs to be taken as the situation has got out of hand.
Mr Dube said water flows were being blocked during the mining process resulting in little or no flow at all to council dams.
He suggested that, if possible, no mining claims be offered in affected areas.
The sealed entranced to the quarry pit that caved in
Council rangers, police officers and the Environmental Management Agency have on several occasions raided the gold panners but this has not been deterrent enough.
Farmers are also counting losses due to the operations of the gold panners as some of their cattle fall into unclaimed pits they leave behind. -Chronicle
Like this:
Like Loading...
