Gold Fields' Miners To Down Tools After Deaths

Miners at the KDC West mine operated by Gold Fields, the world's fourth-largest gold miner, will stay off work on Tuesday to honour five workers killed last weekend, the National Union of Mine Workers said on Monday.

The miners died in a fire as they worked underground on June 30. The company closed the entire mine after the fire but has since opened some sections of the operation.

The company has yet to open the shaft where the incident occurred, because the fire there has not been extinguished, it said in a statement on Monday.

The entire KDC operation produces just over 1 million ounces a year, or about 31 percent of group production.