CAPE TOWN - Major gold mining companies in
South Africa expect to reach a settlement in the next few months with former and current workers in the sector affected by lung disease, an industry official
said on Wednesday.
“We are close to a
settlement,” said Graham Briggs, convener of the Occupational Lung Disease Working Group
representing African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American SA, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold
Fields, Harmony and Sibanye Stillwater.
He told journalists on the sidelines of an annual mining conference
in Cape Town, dubbed the “mining indaba” that the companies had put
together a provision totalling 5 billion rand for the settlement, after
affected workers agreed to postpone a class action in court.
"Litigation of this nature, a class action involving many
different companies with many different circumstances where ownership of mines
has changed and so on is very very complex, and is likely to take a very long
time," Briggs said.
"By getting to a compromise situation where there’s a settlement
would be a great benefit to the claimants because they would get their payments
much quicker."