South African court allows silicosis class action against gold firms

Record ID: 103957

  • Title: South African court allows silicosis class action against gold firms
  • Date: 13th May 2016
  • Summary: SOUTH AFRICA, KATHU - NORTHERN CAPE (FILE - DEC 21, 2011) (REUTERS) KUMBA IRON ORE MINE VARIOUS OF TRUCK DRIVING AROUND THE MINE RAISING DUST DUST RISING FROM KUMBA IRON ORE MINE
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2016 11:44
  • Keywords: South Africa gold silicosis court Judge Phineas Mojapelo
  • Location: JOHANNESBURG AND NORTHERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
  • City: JOHANNESBURG AND NORTHERN CAPE, SOUTH AFRICA
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Commodities Markets,Economic Events
  • Reuters ID: LVA0044HN5C93
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: South Africa gave the green light on Friday (May 13) for class action suits seeking damages from gold companies for up to half a million miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases silicosis and tuberculosis underground.
    The High Court decision sets the stage for protracted proceedings in the largest class action suits in Africa's most industrialised country. Analysts have said the suits could cost the gold industry hundreds of millions of dollars.
    Judge Phineas Mojapelo said workers who had died of the diseases could be included in the suits, with any damages paid to family members, and that each mining company should be held liable separately for any damages.
    "We hold the view that, in the context of this case, class action is the only realistic option through which most mine workers can assert their claims effectively against the mining companies," said Mojapelo during a court hearing in Johannesburg.
    "The mining companies agree that a large number of the mine workers have already lost their lives as a result of contracting silicosis or TB (tuberculosis)," he added.
    In their heyday in the 1980s, South Africa's gold mines employed 500,000 men, and some medical research suggests as many as one in two former gold miners has silicosis.
    Silicosis is an incurable disease caused by inhaling silica dust from gold-bearing rocks. It causes shortness of breath, a persistent cough and chest pains, and also makes people highly susceptible to tuberculosis.
    The defendants in the case include some of the world's biggest bullion producers, including Anglo American and Africa's top bullion producer AngloGold Ashanti, who have been hit by a slide in commodities prices and widespread labour unrest among miners. They have come together to from the Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) working group to deal with such issues.
    Alan Fine, a spokesman for OLD said in a statement the gold companies were studying the judgement and each firm would decide whether to appeal the court ruling.
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