Bloomberg reports that the number of people killed in South African mines has reached 22 this year, as mining companies struggle to improve on their safety record in 2017, when deaths increased for the first time in a decade.  

Mining deaths increased to 88 last year, compared with 73 in 2016, the Department of Mineral Resources advised.  South Africa operates some of the world’s deepest and most dangerous mines.  The country has been mined commercially for over a century and many operators still rely on older, labour-intensive mining methods such as hand drilling.

• A short report by Paul Burkhardt is at Fin24

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