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South African Mine Deaths Fall to Record Low as Safety Improves

South African Mine Deaths Fall to Record Low as Safety Improves

(Bloomberg) --

The number of workers killed at South African mines dropped to the lowest on record last year, a sign that safety performance is improving at some of the world’s deepest shafts.

There were 51 fatalities reported, down from 81 a year earlier, the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy said in a statement handed to reporters in Pretoria on Friday. It doesn’t provide a breakdown of mining companies responsible for the deaths.

“We are doing relatively better than we expected, we have improved dramatically, but lets aim for a fatality-free mining industry,” Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe said at the briefing.

South African Mine Deaths Fall to Record Low as Safety Improves

South Africa’s mines are among the world’s deepest and least mechanized, typically relying on older, labor-intensive mining methods. Still, the number of workers killed at operations has plunged from more than 550 in the mid-1990s. Deaths at gold mines last year more than halved to 19, while fatalities at platinum-group metals mines rose to 19 from 12.

To contact the reporter on this story: Felix Njini in Johannesburg at fnjini@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Lynn Thomasson at lthomasson@bloomberg.net, Nicholas Larkin, Liezel Hill

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