THE proposal to resume operations at Lily Mine in Mpumalanga must be put to a vote as a matter of urgency, with the hope that operations will resume and bodies of three trapped miners will be retrieved.
This is the demand by ActionSA lawyers representing families of the miners to Business Rescue Plan after a proposal was tabled by Arqomanzi.
Arqomanzi, according to ActionSA in a statement, is the only company that has tabled a proposal with an intention to resume operations.
Three miners, Yvonne Mnisi, Pretty Nkambule and Solomon Nyirenda, were inside a container when it sunk on 5 February, 2016.
Attempts to rescue the container were futile at the time as it was deemed dangerous and with each passing month any hope that they would be retrieved alive were dashed.
Their families have since 2019 been camping by the site in protest calling for their bodies to be retrieved.
ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba said retrieving their bodies and allowing their relatives to bury them will bring closure to the families.
“ActionSA calls for the Business Rescue Plan to put Arqomanzi’s proposal to the vote by the creditors with the utmost urgency. There’s nothing in the law that prevents a new business rescue plan from being voted on and adopted with immediate effect.
In the interest of justice for Lily Mine families, the expedition of this process cannot be overstated,” said Mashaba at the recent court victory in the Supreme Court of Appeal on 22 December.
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The court had ruled that the business rescue practitioners would have to draft new plans to reopen the mine.
Mashaba said the proposal by current owners of the company, Vantage Goldfields, has made no provision for the reopening of the mine.
However, he believes that the proposal by Arqomanzi gave a glimmer of hope, as it has intentions to reopen the mine. This, he added, could lead to the retrieval of the trapped miners.
“Since the collapse, rescue operations commenced very quickly. Fortunately, the 76 workers who were underground were soon evacuated through another exit shaft. But the three who were trapped in the container remained underground. Attempts to retrieve them continued for days,” he said.
