Kinross, Mpumalanga

Kinross is a small gold mining town in Mpumalanga, South Africa with four gold mines in the region. Village on the watershed between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, between Devon and Trichardt, 42 km west of Bethal, 19 km east of Leslie and about 70 km north-north-east of Standerton.HistoryProclaimed a village in December 1915, it acquired municipal status about 1965. Named after Kinross in Scotland, some say by engineers constructing the Springs-Breyten railway, others by the surveyor of the town.Kinross mining disasterAn underground fire started by an acetylene tank caused the death of 177 miners on 16 September 1986. Another 235 miners were injured in the incident, one of the largest mining incidents in South Africa.On 16 September 1986, 177 mineworkers were killed at Kinross Mine in one of South Africa's worst mine disasters since 1946. An acetylene tank sparked flames that swept through the mining tunnel igniting plastic covering on the wiring. The flames also set fire to polyurethane foam that is used to keep walls in the mine dry. The burning plastic combined with polyurethane and churned toxic fumes that filled the shafts, choking miners to death. A welder's spark ignited plastic foam lining the walls of a tunnel, starting the fire which resulted in one of the worst disasters in mining history.