There were some words of wisdom in your editorial comment on the mining sector (It’s miners versus moguls, April 6), but it is false to say that "since the mining charters have come into effect the industry has lost about 200,000 jobs". The Mining Charter took effect in 2004, in tandem with the new mining law, the Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act. Total mine employment in 2004 was 448,909 (Minerals Statistical Tables 1993-2014, Directorate: Mineral Economics Bulletin B1/2015, 17th edition November 2015). The preliminary employment figure for 2017 (released by the Department of Mineral Resources in March) was 462,870 mine workers. So average employment on mines has not changed much — a rise of 13,961 — since the charter came into effect. That is not a loss of 200,000 jobs. Martin Nicol Claremont
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