JOHANNESBURG, May 6, 2008 (AFP) - Two South African gold mines, which suspended operations last week after nine miners were killed when a lift cage plummeted down a shaft, have resumed operations, a company spokesman said Tuesday.

'Operations started on Monday in Kloof and Driefontein. Operations will resume in the third mine, South Deep, on Thursday,' Gold Fields spokesman Andrew Davidson told AFP.

The accident happened last Thursday when a lift cable snapped and the cage fell down two levels at the South Deep Mines near Randfontein in the northeastern province of Gauteng.

Around 200 people are killed in South Africa's mines every year.