Companies / Mining CLASS ACTION Mine workers win R5bn in historic silicosis settlement Seven gold-mining companies have made provisions in the past year for about R5bn that will go towards establishing a trust to pay miners afflicted with silicosis BL PREMIUM

SA’s largest and most expensive class action to date, brought by mine workers against seven gold mining companies, will finally conclude on Thursday with the signing of a R5bn mediated settlement. Seven gold-mining companies have made provisions in the past year for about R5bn that will go towards establishing a trust to pay miners afflicted with silicosis after working underground and breathing silica-laden dust. Participants confirmed that the parties could sign an agreement on Thursday, provided there were no last-minute developments. The claimants’ attorneys in the silicosis and tuberculosis class-action litigation and the mining companies’ occupational lung disease working group will host a briefing in Johannesburg to sign the agreement. The agreement will have to be ratified by a court before it can be implemented. Richard Spoor, the lawyer representing more than 20 ill miners in the litigation, said on Wednesday: “We are sitting on the brink of reaching an agreement in this m...