| Elandsrand | |
| Pushpin Map: | South Africa Gauteng#South Africa |
| Coordinates: | -26.4333°N 49°W |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | South Africa |
| Subdivision Type1: | Province |
| Subdivision Name1: | Gauteng |
| Subdivision Type2: | District |
| Subdivision Name2: | West Rand |
| Subdivision Type3: | Municipality |
| Subdivision Name3: | Merafong City |
| Subdivision Type4: | Main Place |
| Established Title: | Established |
| Leader Title: | Councillor |
| Area Footnotes: | [1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 12.80 |
| Population Total: | 2191 |
| Population As Of: | 2011 |
| Population Density Km2: | auto |
| Demographics Type1: | Racial makeup (2011) |
| Demographics1 Title1: | Black African |
| Demographics1 Info1: | 96.9% |
| Demographics1 Title2: | Coloured |
| Demographics1 Info2: | 0.7% |
| Demographics1 Title3: | Indian/Asian |
| Demographics1 Title4: | White |
| Demographics1 Info4: | 2.1% |
| Demographics1 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics1 Info5: | 0.2% |
| Demographics Type2: | First languages (2011) |
| Demographics2 Title1: | Sotho |
| Demographics2 Info1: | 32.7% |
| Demographics2 Title2: | Xhosa |
| Demographics2 Info2: | 31.2% |
| Demographics2 Title3: | Zulu |
| Demographics2 Info3: | 7.9% |
| Demographics2 Title4: | Swazi |
| Demographics2 Info4: | 7.9% |
| Demographics2 Title5: | Other |
| Demographics2 Info5: | 20.4% |
| Timezone1: | SAST |
| Utc Offset1: | +2 |
| Postal Code Type: | Postal code (street) |
| Postal Code: | 2499 |
| Postal2 Code Type: | PO box |
| Postal2 Code: | 2500 |
| Area Code Type: | Area code |
| Area Code: | 018 |
Elandsrand (Afrikaans for "eland ridge") is a small mining town approximately 10km (10miles) outside Carletonville next to Blyvooruitzicht.
On 3 October 2007, 3,200 mine workers were trapped in the gold mine after an accident blocked a deep (2.2 km) shaft near the bottom. Rescuers used an adjacent shaft to rescue the miners, a spokeswoman for the mine's owner, Harmony Gold Mining, said.[2]
Elandsrand mine is 8km (05miles) from Carltonville near Western Deep Levels to the East and Deelkraal to the West. It has twin shafts very close to each other, one being a production shaft, the other a service shaft for men and equipment. The incident trapping the miners occurred in the service shaft when a 15-meter section of compressed air pipe burst and fell to the shaft bottom, in the process damaging steel shaft guides, and electrical lines which cut off power to the hoist on the service cage. Because the service shaft became inoperable, miners were brought up using the production shaft, after changing out the skips for a cage.[3] The cages in the service shaft are of a 3 deck configuration with a capacity of about 150 personnel, and are capable of operating at speeds of 50km (30miles) per hour. The service cage would not be able to fit into the hoisting compartments in the production shaft due to different shaft sizes, and different compartment configurations. Due to this fact a smaller cage with a slower hoisting speed was used in the skip compartments. As a result, evacuation of the trapped miners took longer than had the miners been able to use the service shaft as an egress. Eventually all the miners were rescued unharmed from the mine.[2]