Oct. 16 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa shut the continent's two biggest gold mines, Gold Fields Ltd.'s Driefontein and Kloof, after three workers died at the operations this week.

The government is inspecting Driefontein today following an earth tremor yesterday that killed two miners about 3 kilometers (2 miles) underground, Johannesburg-based company spokesman Willie Jacobsz said by phone. Five workers were injured, he said. Gold Fields also expects to meet the government today to discuss re-opening Kloof after an Oct. 13 death, Jacobsz said.

The fatalities are a setback for Chief Executive Officer Nick Holland who shut unsafe mining areas after nine workers fell to their deaths in South Deep mine on his first day in office on May 1. Holland also replaced ageing infrastructure at Driefontein and Kloof and pledged ``we won't mine if we can't mine safely.'' The stoppages will hurt Gold Fields' efforts to boost output.

Driefontein and Kloof are located west of Johannesburg in the Witwatersrand area, which has some of the world's deepest and most dangerous gold mines. Gold Fields, Africa's biggest miner of the metal after AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., produced 928,000 ounces at Driefontein in fiscal 2008 and 821,000 ounces at Kloof.

South Africa is reviewing the results of a mine safety audit ordered after more than 3,000 Harmony Gold Mining Co. workers were trapped underground in Elandsrand mine a year ago.

The government began suspending mining operations following fatal accidents after mine deaths rose more than 10 percent last year to an estimated 221 from a year earlier.

Gold Fields declined 75 cents, or 1 percent, to 72 rand in Johannesburg, giving the company a market value of 47 billion rand ($4.55 billion).

To contact the reporter on this story: Carli Lourens in Johannesburg at clourens@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 16, 2008 12:34 EDT