Production is expected to be halted at Aquarius Platinum's Marikana mines following the death of a worker on Tuesday.

Reint Dykema, Spokesperson for miners union Solidarity, Gavin Dire of Murray & Roberts Cementation and Aquarius Platinum have all confirmed that the worker died in the Marikana 1 shaft, but did not give any more details, Mining Weekly reports.

The mine is now likely to be closed to allow a health and safety investigation to take place into the incident and for retraining of staff in safety standards.

News of the fatality follows the suspension of operations at Aquarius Platinum's Everest Mine last month after a rockdrill operator died in a landfall accident.

The voluntary closure of the Everest mine resulted in the loss of 2,000 oz of platinum group metals (pgms) for Aquarius Platinum, which are not expected to be made up over the course of the next quarter.

Source:

Worker dies at Aquarius' Marikana mine, 11/12/07
http://www.miningweekly.co.za/article.php?a_id=123392

Aquarius Platinum says mining resumes at Everest mine, 24/10/07
http://www.hemscott.com/news/latest-news/item.do?newsId=53878217968389

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