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Thursday, 28th September 2006 (4436 views)

A fire at the South Deep gold mine in South Africa's Witwatersrand basin has not overly worried the mine's prospective owner, Gold Fields, Dow Jones Newswires reports.

A routine blast on August 31st caused a fire but the area was immediately isolated. Production was halted for almost a week while the problems were being sorted out but it now appears to be back under control.

"The fire was caused by a routine blast operation," said Gold Fields' senior vice-president, Jimmy Dowsley. "It is not a long-term issue and we understand that the situation is now under control."

He continued: "The rebuilding of the main shaft will be complete by January 2007 and this problem will no longer be there."

Gold Fields is hoping that the South African government will approve its agreement to buy a 50 per cent interest in the gold mine from Barrick.

The South Deep mine is appropriately named because it is one of the deepest mines in the whole wide world. It began production in 1961 and has a projected life of 70 years.

 

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