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JOHANNESBURG -(Dow Jones)- Gold Fields Ltd. (NYSE:GFI) (GFI) Thursday said all production has been stopped at a shaft of its Kloof gold mine after two workers were killed by falling ground following a seismic event.

An investigation is being carried out by South Africa's Department of Minerals and Energy, the Johannesburg-based company said.

The accident comes just a day after the Kloof mine, near Westonaria to the west of Johannesburg, achieved 1 million fatality-free shifts over 51 working days, a record not achieved since April 2006.

Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) , Africa's second-largest gold producer after AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. (NYSE:AU) (AU), said the employees were carrying out cleaning duties in a stope of the No. 4 shaft about 3,000 meters below the surface when there was a seismic event of 1.2 magnitude. There were three other workers in the stope at the time, but they managed to escape without injury.

"It only reinforces the need for us to be even more vigilant and remain committed to safe working at all our operations," Gold Fields Chief Executive Nick Holland said.

A decision on resuming production at No. 4 shaft could be made later Thursday, depending on the outcome of the inspection, company spokesman Andrew Davidson told Dow Jones Newswires.

Davidson said essential operations in the shaft, such as pumping, continue.

One of the workers who was killed was an aquajet operator and the other a stope assistant, he said. The pair were part of a team that was clearing away broken ore overnight.

Kloof accounted for 175,500 of the 827,000 troy ounces produced by Gold Fields (NYSE:GFI) in the three months to March 31.

During that quarter, the company recorded five fatalities, including two mining deaths at Kloof. Since then, there were three separate incidents in which 14 workers died and which prompted the company to commission and external safety review of all its operations.

That audit has begun and is expected to continue until at least October, with external consultants joined by Gold Fields' (NYSE:GFI) own safety consultants, Davidson said.

Mine safety has been a growing concern in South Africa after the number of fatalities reached 220 last year, a rise from 201 the year before. Unions have been increasingly vocal about safety and last year staged a one-day strike, while government in October ordered a mine safety audit.

Junior mining company Pamodzi Gold Ltd. (Johannesburg:PZG) (PZG.JO) Wednesday said a worker died at its East Rand operations. This followed just days after two workers died in a fire at the company's Orkney mine in South Africa's North West province.

Company Web site: www.goldfields.co.za

-By Robb M. Stewart, Dow Jones Newswires; +27 11 783 7848; robb.stewart@ dowjones.com

    (END) Dow Jones Newswires   06-26-08 0555   Copyright (c) 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.