"I am very traumatized, exhausted, not knowing what is going on," said Sam Ramohanoe, whose wife, Flora, was one of the trapped miners. "It is very unfair to us, not knowing what is going on with our beloved ones."

Anger was also evident over Harmony not informing the government or public that more than 3,000 workers had been trapped.

The National Union of Mineworkers was the first to alert the nation to the potential disaster, and its report that the miners had been trapped didn't come until 15 hours after the accident.

The union charged that the mining industry, one of South Africa's most important revenue earners, has cut corners on safety standards and does not properly maintain mines. It warned companies that if safety isn't addressed, it will "hit their pockets big time in the near future."

The mine owner and South Africa's minerals and energy minister vowed to improve safety.

"We have to recommit ourselves to refocus on safety in this country; our safety record both as a company and an industry leave much to be desired," the South African Press Association quoted Harmony Gold's chairman, Patrice Motsepe, as saying.

Buyelwa Sonjica, the government's minister for minerals and energy, said the Elandsrand mine would not be allowed to reopen for at least six weeks while experts checked it. She also said health and safety legislation would be "tightened up."

Last year, 199 South African mineworkers died in accidents, mostly rock falls, the government reported in September. One worker was killed last week in a mine next to Elandsrand.

Sonjica criticized Harmony for not immediately informing the government of the accident. She said that both she and President Thabo Mbeki learned about it from the late evening news, long after it happened.

"You cannot hide 3,000 people who are trapped underground," Sonjica told The Associated Press. "I find it very queer, strange, that they did that. As to whether they were covering up it is difficult to tell at this point."

Soares, the Harmony spokeswoman, said the mine had won a number of safety awards and never had a fatal accident. She said the company was likely to suffer considerable losses in output during the closure.

Harmony's per-share price on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange dropped 2.86 percent to close at 74.06 rand a share, or about $10.69. JPMorgan analyst Allan Cooke said the accident would hurt Harmony's earnings, especially if the mine remained closed for the entire quarter.

Harmony said Elandsrand produces an average of about 1,300 pounds of gold every month.

Thabo Gazi, chairman of the Mine Health and Safety Council, a group of government, labor and employer representatives that advises the government, said it would investigate the Elandsrand accident.

He said he had already raised concerns with the government that safety standards were being compromised in the drive to ensure maximum profits for minimum costs.

But Terence Creamer, editor of Engineering News and contributing editor for Mining Weekly, a leading engineering and mining publication, said mining companies cannot risk ignoring safety issues because of the high costs associated with accidents and production stoppages.

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Associated Press writers Clare Nullis in Cape Town and Celean Jacobson in Johannesburg contributed to this report.