Rescuers bring 150 S.African miners to surface

By James Macharia

ELANDSRAND MINE, South Africa, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Rescue teams brought the first 150 miners out of 3,200 trapped deep underground in a South African gold mine to the surface early on Thursday, mine and union officials said.

Mine owner Harmony Gold (HARJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) is confident all the miners will be lifted to the surface in a small elevator at the Elandsrand mine near Carletonville, southwest of Johannesburg, Chief Executive Officer Graham Briggs told Reuters.

"There have been no injuries or deaths ... It may take as long as 10 hours, the cage (lift) is travelling fairly slowly to avoid risks ... I'm very confident all will come out," Briggs said.

The first miners emerged at around 2330 GMT, after being trapped 2.2 km (1.4 miles) underground for over 15 hours. Between 150 and 200 women miners were among the workers.

"They look exhausted and very, very relieved," the SAPA news agency quoted National Union of Mineworkers spokesman Peter Bailey as saying.

Another union spokesman said earlier that the miners were trapped in a cramped space where temperatures could reach 30 to 40 degrees Celsius (86-104 Fahrenheit).

Briggs said production at the mine had been halted and would remain shut down until an investigation had been carried out and the damage repaired.

The miners were caught after a power cable to a lift broke at around 0800 GMT on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for Harmony -- the world's fifth biggest gold producer -- said earlier.