The compensation fund established by the government to assist thousands of silicosis victims has raised R3.7 billion, which the gold mining industry says can be enough to cover the claims.
Graham Briggs, the chairman of a mining industry working group set up to handle the potential claim by victims, yesterday said he was confident that the matter could be settled out of court before the end of this year.
Speaking at the African Mining Indaba in Cape Town, Briggs said the compensation fund, controlled by the Department of Health, currently had about R3.7bn in its coffers.
“One of the biggest issues around the problem that we have is that current compensation has not been paid. I am not talking about the class action. I am about compensation that is due to the claimants. The R3.7bn is enough to pay the silicosis sufferers,” said Briggs.
“If you look at the controlled mines, every controlled mine has a certain fee. That fee is around R8 per shift per employee. That fee is for compensation for the people who get silicosis. It is a fund and held by the government.”
Last year, the high court in Joburg gave a green light for a class action against gold mining companies African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Goldfields, Harmony and Sibanye, in what was widely hailed as a victory for ex-miners who contracted the fatal lung diseases of silicosis and tuberculosis in the mines.
The gold mining companies came together and established the Mining Industry Working Group on Occupational Lung Diseases to handle the matter.
Briggs, a former chief executive of Harmony Gold, said the Chamber of Mines had spent a lot of money tracking and tracing beneficiaries.
He said that as a result, the chamber had digitised the old database.
But he said the number of potential claimants was unknown.
“Finding the miners is complicated. If you go back many years ago, miners were contractors. So they used to work on contract for a year and go back to Lesotho, Mozambique or the Eastern Cape. When they come back, the company has been bought or the mine has been closed. Imagine unravelling all of those employee records. A court case would go on for ever,” he said.
Briggs added he was optimistic that the matter could be resolved because of the good co-operation between affected parties.
“The Departments of Health, Labour and Mineral Resources are working together. The industry is also working together. Everyone is working towards a solution. We must find the people and pay the compensation."
He said settling out of court was the best option. “In court there are losers and winners. (Settling the matter) brings closure. The court case could go on for five or 10 years,” he said.