Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A working group of South African gold miners on Thursday showcased a host of engineering measures aimed at “designing out” the risk of workers contracting silicosis.
The working group aimed to reduce silicosis exposure to an industry milestone of 0.05 mg/m3 by 2024 by actioning a three-pronged strategy involving prevention schemes through effective engineering and deployment of improved dust management technologies, detection and treatment initiatives at mines, as well as appropriately compensating workers who do contract the disease.
The engineering measures, which were outlined to the media and other stakeholders during a visit to Sibanye Gold’s Driefontein mine, on the West Rand of Johannesburg, included footwall chemical treatments sprayed from locomotives, water atomisers at the stope, winch covers and dual-filtration tip covers.
The visit, hosted by a working group comprising seven current and historical gold miners in South Africa, included a 2 700 m journey underground at the mine’s Ya Rona shaft, a visit to the health room at the Driefontein training centre and a look at Sibanye’s Ikamva clinic, which it aimed to launch next week.
The working group, which was formed last year, included African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American South Africa, AngloGold Ashanti, DRDGold, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold and Sibanye Gold.
These companies had vowed to take action against the litigative threat of occupational lung disease, particularly that of silicosis, which had plagued South Africa’s gold mining industry for over a century.
The South Gauteng High Court was currently hearing an application by lawyers of 59 mineworkers, who have contracted silicosis or tuberculosis, who wanted to represent a wider class of miners affected by these diseases.