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City Press reports that a total of 40 workers were killed in accidents in gold mines last year, according to statistics released by the Department of Mineral Resources on Friday.
This was half of the total of 81 lives lost in mines across the country. Platinum mines were still the second-largest contributor to fatal accidents, with 12 deaths, less though than 2017’s toll of 29 lives lost. The company with the most to answer for was Sibanye-Stillwater, which saw two mining disasters at its operations last year. A disaster is defined as an incident where five people are killed at once. In May, a fall of ground incident led to the death of seven people in the company’s Driefontein gold mine. In June, five mine workers were killed in a “heat-related” accident at the adjacent Kloof gold mine. The Palabora Mining Company also had a disaster when six workers were killed in an explosion in July. Other accidents in mines leading to injuries but not deaths decreased last year by 12% to 2 350.
- The original of Dewald van Rensburg’s report on this story is at City Press
- Read too, Mine fatalities decrease by 10% in 2018, at Mining Weekly
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page