Gold miners infected with lung diseases brought on by repeated exposure to the dust of South Africa’s mines have won a multimillion dollar out-of-court settlement, their lawyer said on Saturday.
Anglo American South Africa and AngloGold Ashanti have agreed to pay the equivalent of US$32,595,800 to claimants affected by silicosis, settling the case before it went to court, said lawyer Zanele Mbuyisa, who represents 4,365 claimants.
Silicosis, caused by the inhalation of dust particles, makes people affected by it vulnerable to diseases like tuberculosis.
Most of the claimants worked in South Africa’s gold mines during the apartheid era, when miners rarely had the proper protective gear, according to the miners’ lawyers.
“Thousands of silicosis victims must have died uncompensated during a period when the industry should have been well aware of their predicament,” Mbusiya said.
She and human-rights lawyers from the London-based firm Leigh Day have worked on the case since 2012, collecting the stories of miners in rural South Africa and Lesotho.
About 400 miners died before the settlement was reached, she said.
Claimants are to undergo a medical exam to determine the compensation they should receive, Mbuyisa said. The families of the deceased miners are also to be compensated.
Binyana Benson Qubeka said he plans to use his compensation to rebuild his home in the Eastern Cape province and send his children to school.
Qubeka, born in 1952, estimates he was about 18 when he began working in the mines.
“I can’t say just how happy I am,” said Qubeka, who was diagnosed with silicosis in 1998.
The mining companies said the settlement was reached without an admission of liability from the operators.
“Both companies and the plaintiffs have a common interest in settling this highly complex case that could take several years to resolve through litigation,” AngloGold Ashanti CEO Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan said in a statement.
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