SA’s big miners close to a settlement in lung disease class-action suit
The class action brought by thousands of mineworkers who contracted lung diseases while working for the country’s gold miners has been postponed because the parties are close to a settlement, lawyers for the companies said on Wednesday. In 2016, a High Court set the stage for protracted proceedings on cases dating back decades in SA’s largest class action suit yet. Many of the nearly half a million miners who contracted silicosis and tuberculosis are from nearby countries that supplied labour to the mines. African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony Gold and Sibanye-Stillwater are listed as respondents. Attorneys representing all appellants and all respondents involved in the suit had requested the postponement, the companies’ lawyers said in a statement, adding settlement negotiations were at an "advanced stage". The industry’s working group on occupational lung disease, which represents the six miners involved, said last year that a provision ...
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