South Africa’s gold-mining industry has employed up to half-a-million workers at any time over the past 100-plus years, and claims have been doing the rounds that thousands of mineworkers have contracted lung diseases because employers failed to protect them from inhaling harmful dust.

A series of studies has shown that one in four long-service miners suffers from silicoses, which puts them at increased risk of 
tuberculosis and lung cancer.

Former gold-miners who contracted silicosis while working at the President Steyn mine, in which Anglo American formerly 
owned a stake, are taking the mining giant to court.

The miners allege that the company knew about the dangers posed by the silica dust underground, yet failed to protect them.

They state that they were not provided with face masks or any other protection against excessive exposure to dust, and were encouraged to continue working even after they fell ill.

One of the plaintiffs, who worked on the mine for 16 years, alleges that the miner refused to give workers face masks. “Masks were only given to people who 
visited the mine,” he says.

However, Anglo American South Africa spokesperson Pranill Ramchander states in an email response to Mining Weekly that the company denies liability in the 25 separate actions for damages brought by former gold mineworkers.

“These workers were employed by South African gold-mining companies in which Anglo American had an interest, which, in the case of the President Steyn gold-mining company, where most of the plaintiffs were employed, was significantly less than 50%.

“They contend that Anglo gave negligent advice to the companies which employed them and that this resulted in their contracting silicosis.

“However, Anglo refutes that it gave negligent advice and maintains that the employing companies, which owned and operated the mines, were responsible for the health and safety of their employees and took reasonable steps to protect them.

“Anglo has always promoted a culture of health and safety in the gold-mining companies with which it was previously associ-
ated. 
“The health and safety of all employees is of paramount 
importance to Anglo American and is one of its core values. Anglo American is continually advancing health and safety standards through its policies and programmes.

“These include a policy of providing the necessary resources to protect the health and working 
capacity of its employees based on industry best practice and internationally recognised occupational health and safety standards; and a global risk management programme which educates staff at all levels of the organisation in risk management to help them
better identify hazards and assess and manage risks,” comments Ramchander.

South African legislation makes express provision for the payment of compensation for occupational diseases through statutory compensation schemes.

The purpose of these schemes is to provide a government-administered process for the payment of compensation to workers out of a fund to which gold-mining and other companies have been contributing for many years in accordance with their legal obligation to do so.

However, the recent plaintiffs are seeking additional compensation for the victims and medical help for these ex-miners whose health continues to be at risk from tuberculosis.

Representing the former mineworkers in court, Legal Resources Centre attorney Jason Brickhill explains to Mining Weekly that these cases were initially launched in 2004 by a community organ-
isation, the Bond Victims’ Asso-ciation, in the Free State, which then approached Legal Aid South Africa and London-based law firm Leigh Day. Since then, two of the original litigants have died.