The miners who have made it to the surface are exhausted and relieved. Many spent more than 24 hours trapped two kilometres underground. Their ordeal began when a column of water pipes fell down the main shaft, disabling the lift.

Rescuers have worked through the night to bring the men and women up an adjacent shaft, 75 at a time.

It was estimated that it would take 10 hours to rescue all 3,200 trapped workers. But mine owner, Harmony Gold Mining, says the evacuation operation is proceeding better than expected.

Those miners still underground are reported to be hungry and stressed, but in good health.

The only way out for the miners was a makeshift lift making 30-minute return trips to the surface. With 1,650 miners rescued, the rescue mission was expected to continue into the the late afternoon.

"We still have about another 1,400 remaining to be lifted," the mine's general manager Stan Bierschenk said.

Patrice Motsepe, chairman of Harmony Gold who owns the mine, said the safety of the miners was the first priority.

"Obviously we want everyone out as quickly as humanly possible but if we speed it up more than we are, we run the risk of compromising the safety of our employees," he said.

Unions warned the incident should serve as a wake-up call to the industry, saying it had highlighted shortcomings in safety procedures. © 2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation