ActionSA Prepares to Invite Specialised Mine Rescue Companies to Retrieve the Lily Mine Three
Press Statement by Herman Mashaba
ActionSA President
Following the granting of access permission in February 2025 by the Lily Mine Business Rescue Practitioner, Mr Robert Charles Devereux, ActionSA, as a courtesy, wrote to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to request either an acknowledgment or an offer of support. To date, consistent with previous occasions, there has been no response from the Department.
The permission granted by the Business Rescue Practitioner is, on its own, sufficient for ActionSA to proceed with issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to experienced mine rescue companies for the retrieval of the container that sank during a mine implosion on 5 February 2016, tragically trapping three innocent mine workers—now known as the Lily Mine Three: Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi, and Solomon Nyirenda.
The Requests for Proposals will shortly be advertised for interested mine rescue practitioners to have access to the mine as per the permission given by the Business Rescue Practitioner, Mr Robert Charles Devereux, to prepare their bids.
Once appointed, the preferred company will be expected to conduct safety assessments of the area surrounding the container’s location, and either retrieve the container with the remains of the Lily Mine Three, or recover the remains directly through access to the container. We believe that a successful operation will mark the beginning of the end of an almost nine-year journey filled with immense pain for the families of the Lily Mine Three.
This has been, and remains, a worthy fight undertaken on behalf of the three affected families. It is deeply disappointing, however, that we have not received the cooperation of our own democratically elected government of the Republic of South Africa.
ActionSA Prepares to Invite Specialised Mine Rescue Companies to Retrieve the Lily Mine Three
Following the granting of access permission in February 2025 by the Lily Mine Business Rescue Practitioner, Mr Robert Charles Devereux, ActionSA, as a courtesy, wrote to the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to request either an acknowledgment or an offer of support. To date, consistent with previous occasions, there has been no response from the Department.
The permission granted by the Business Rescue Practitioner is, on its own, sufficient for ActionSA to proceed with issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) to experienced mine rescue companies for the retrieval of the container that sank during a mine implosion on 5 February 2016, tragically trapping three innocent mine workers—now known as the Lily Mine Three: Pretty Nkambule, Yvonne Mnisi, and Solomon Nyirenda.
The Requests for Proposals will shortly be advertised for interested mine rescue practitioners to have access to the mine as per the permission given by the Business Rescue Practitioner, Mr Robert Charles Devereux, to prepare their bids.
Once appointed, the preferred company will be expected to conduct safety assessments of the area surrounding the container’s location, and either retrieve the container with the remains of the Lily Mine Three, or recover the remains directly through access to the container. We believe that a successful operation will mark the beginning of the end of an almost nine-year journey filled with immense pain for the families of the Lily Mine Three.
This has been, and remains, a worthy fight undertaken on behalf of the three affected families. It is deeply disappointing, however, that we have not received the cooperation of our own democratically elected government of the Republic of South Africa.