The number of South African miners tested positive for the coronavirus shot up by 209% in one weekend.
On Friday there were 85 miners tested positive, but by Monday the number was 263.
Just one worker is dead from Covid-19.
The large increase is mainly due to the 164 miners working at AngloGold Ashanti’s Mponeng gold mine in Gauteng, which was tested positive for the virus last weekend.
The company said in a statement that it had already performed 650 tests.
Operations at this mine, the deepest mine in the world, were discontinued until further notice.
The mine’s operations extend to more than four kilometers underground.
According to the latest figures published by the Mineral Council of South Africa on its website on Monday, a total of 174 miners in Gauteng have now been tested positive. In Limpopo there are now 60 cases and in the North West 20.
In Limpopo, most of the workers tested positive are associated with Impala Platinum (Implats) ‘s Marula platinum mine. 19 workers were tested positive.
Implats clearly states that the workers were diagnosed before they arrived at the mine for work.
Implats identified the workers in a screening process to be tested. Five of the 19 workers are attached to a clinic at the mine.
Assore’s Dwars River chrome mine in Limpopo was closed earlier in May after a worker there tested positive.
