Collapse of a pit wall at Glencore‘s Katanga Mining operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo has claimed the lives of two workers, while another five are missing.
Katanga Mining is 75%-owned by the Swiss company Glencore and said that the incident occurred when a geotechnical failure was experienced on the north wall of the KOV open pit mine.
Seven people were working during the vicinity of the failure.
The company also expected an unknown amount of damage to the dewatering infrastructure in the pit.
Katanga Mining said a search and rescue team has been mobilised and the company is assessing the damage and recoverability of the affected infrastructure.
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Following the incident, the company suspended operations at the mine and informed all relevant authorities.
Furthermore, the company is searching for the remaining five workers with all available resources allocated to the rescue operations.
Katanga Mining said in a statement: "The families of the missing workers are in the process of being contacted and will be offered full support."
In 2015, Glencore ceased operations at its struggling Katanga mine following a decline in the prices of copper.
The company said it planned to invest $880m to modernise the facility.
