Mining companies facing a class action suit from mineworkers who developed silicosis on South Africa’s gold mines are expected to reach an out-of-court settlement before the close of the year. The class action, which was lodged in May 2016, comprises, according to attorney Richard Spoor, an estimated 100 000 former and current mineworkers who developed the disease while working in any one of the gold mines belonging to the respondent mining companies after 1965. Speaking at this year’s Mining Indaba, in Cape Town, former Harmony Gold CEO and current Mining Industry Working Group on Occupational Lung Disease (OLD) chairperson Graham Briggs stated that the mining companies were in the process of working towards a settlement. “There have been some major gains in the discussions with the various groupings. There is no reason why we shouldn’t see a settlement sometime this year,” Briggs told delegates.
