Fire contained at Harmony Gold's Kusasalethu mine in South Africa

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African bullion producer Harmony Gold said on Sunday that there had been an underground fire at its Kusasalethu mine but it had now been contained. "I can confirm that the fire has occurred but the fire has now been contained," spokeswoman Marian van der Walt said. Kusasalethu, a deep level operation west of Johannesburg, is Harmony's single largest gold producer. Samuel Dlamini, a National Union of Mineworkers official, told Reuters that hundreds of miners who were underground when the fire began were put in a safety chamber and that emergency rescue teams had been sent to retrieve them. Last year Harmony closed Kusasalethu for two weeks to try to remove illegal miners who had been trespassing on the operation and were believed to be starting fires. (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; Editing by Alison Williams)