Hundreds of workers remain underground after 'shaft incident' at South African gold mine, company says

LONDON -- Hundreds of workers remain underground at the Kloof gold mine near Johannesburg after a "shaft incident" occurred at Sibanye Stillwater's sub-shaft, the South Africa-based mining company said Friday.

"We are actively implementing our safety and shaft examination procedures," Sibanye-Stillwater said in a statement. "Once these are completed, we will begin hoisting employees to surface. All 260 employees have been accounted for, are safe and have been provided with food."

A Sibanye-Stillwater spokesperson clarified to ABC News that the workers "are not trapped." The company said in the statement that it expects all affected employees to be brought to the surface on Friday afternoon.

"Following a detailed risk assessment, it was decided that employees should remain at the sub-shaft station until it is safe to proceed to the surface, in order to avoid walking long distances at this time," the company said. "It is estimated that all affected employees will be brought to surface around midday today."

"Initial investigations show that the Kloof 7 sub-shaft rock winder skip door opened at the loading point on level 39, impacting levels 40 and 41 below this point," the company said. "The open door of the skip caused some damage at level 35, and the work to make this safe has been completed."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.