Thousands of South African gold mining employees or descendants of deceased miners will be in line for payouts of between R70,000 and R500,000 after the High Court in Johannesburg approved a R5B agreed settlement with five major mining companies.
The court’s ruling that the settlement is reasonable, adequate and fair ends a complex class action on behalf of miners who contracted silicosis or tuberculosis during or after working in the nation’s gold mines since 1965.
Signatories to the settlement are African Rainbow Minerals, Anglo American, AngloGold Ashanti, Gold Fields, Harmony and Sibanye-Stillwater.