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Are miners being shafted?

Sikonathi Mantshantsha | Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:36
[miningmx.com] -- With the recent spate in mining-related deaths, we ask the question: are mineworkers' deaths avoidable?

NO

Brendan Ryan, mining journalist

The only way to mine without fatalities at great depths is mechanisation. It's become politically incorrect to say so but I think fatalities at great depths are inevitable.

FATALITIES INEVITABLE: The official line is South Africa's mines all target a zero fatality rate over time and are striving to attain that. But the realities of deep level mining on SA's gold and platinum mines - in particular, unpredictable seismic events - mean mineworkers will die irrespective of management's best efforts. That's why Australian resource giant BHP Billiton hasn't ventured into platinum mining here. It concluded fatalities were inevitable.

12 FATALITIES: In August 2007 Anglo Platinum CEO Ralph Havenstein quit his job after a bust-up over safety with Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll, who demanded he mine without killing people. The trigger for the confrontation was the death of 12 mineworkers at Anglo Platinum in the preceeding six months. Despite intense focus on safety within the group, Havenstein's replacement, Neville Nicolau, has just announced the deaths of 10 workers in the six months to June.

AUSTRALIAN APPROACH: Plenty is being done to improve safety standards on SA mines. The industry leaders are the Australians and it comes as no surprise AngloGold Ashanti's safety record has improved dramatically since Aussie CEO Mark Cutifani took over.

MECHANISATION: Greatly reduces the number of people underground and places machines in the high-risk areas. Trouble is, nobody has yet developed a mechanised mining system that's economically viable on the narrow ore bodies found at great depths in SA mines.

JOB LOSSES: The unions don't really want mechanisation because it will take away jobs. Recent attempts by Impala Platinum to bring in a safer and more productive drilling system at the mining face were opposed by workers concerned about job losses.

YES

Frans Baleni, secretary general, National Union of Mineworkers

If mining companies were doing enough, we wouldn't be talking about the number of fatalities we're talking about now

HUGE CHALLENGES: There have already been 100 deaths this year. That means there are huge challenges ahead in terms of mine safety. Yes there's been progress: from more than 1 000 deaths/year at one stage to the current 200/year. But that's still not good enough. We can't celebrate the fact that 200 people are still killed at work every year. The consequences of every mineworker killed are very severe, since miners have a dependency ratio of between six and 10.

PITTANCE SALARY: The death of 10 workers in one week (nine Impala, one Harmony) is an illustration of how an industry that produces so many billionaires and millionaires still hasn't taken adequate steps to protect the lives of the workers who sacrificed their lungs and limbs for a mere pittance of a salary.

HEALTH AND SAFETY: In the 2008 Health and Safety Act we said it must include the offence of corporate homicide in order to punish directors and companies for such things as bad mine designs or management lapses, such as faulty equipment. If companies are serious they'll embrace that provision of the law. We've not seen that but the opposite - threatening legal action and throwing toys, such as people will leave this country.

MECHANISATION: As long as the purpose of mechanisation isn't to reduce jobs we're not religiously opposed to it. We accepted AngloGold Ashanti's study about five years ago when it said it needed to mine about 5km below ground and would use machinery for that.

CAN BE DONE: To say that it's inevitable people will die in mining is the wrong mentality. That other companies can achieve up to 3m fatality-free shifts means it's possible to mine without killing workers. It's possible to mine without fatalities - all the industry stakeholders have agreed on that.



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