ex-miners TB claims

Ex-miners who contracted TB or Silicosis can now submit their claims to the Department of Health. Photo: File

The death toll keeps rising at Sibanye Stillwater

The Sibanye mineworker is said to have entered a scraper path and was caught by it, dying instantly. No further information from the coroner’s office has been released yet. 

ex-miners TB claims

Ex-miners who contracted TB or Silicosis can now submit their claims to the Department of Health. Photo: File

The mining company, Sibanye Stillwater, has just announced the death of yet another miner. The incident occurred at the Khomanani mining site during their Driefontein operation, according to eNCA.

Sibanye in hot waters yet again

The Sibanye mineworker is said to have entered a scraper path and was caught by it, dying instantly. No further information from the coroner’s office has been released yet.

This is the sixth death that has been officially confirmed by Sibanye. It was only a few weeks ago when it was reported that five miners from Sibanye had been found dead at the abandoned Kloof Ikamva mine shaft, allegedly due to deadly gases and heat exposure.

Read – Sibanye-Stillwater latest: All five missing miners now confirmed dead

On the 20th of June, Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said that the company had hired a specialist on behavioural safety to assist in ensuring that employees’ lives are not lost at work.

He also touched on the autonomy mineworkers must have in deciding whether or not it is safe for them to go underground

Will a safety summit actually help save lives

However, just over a week after his comments, another death has been reported. The company has issued a statement, stating that “this is another sad incident and all efforts are being focused on addressing this perplexing increase in safety incidents”.

It is the responsibility of the company and the department of minerals resources to initiate a formal investigation into the matter.

The families of the loved ones they have lost have yet to receive any result from the already ongoing investigations from incidents that have occurred this past couple of months.

According to eNCA, the company announced that on Friday, it will host a safety summit in trying to figure out how it came to be that it was responsible for 21 out of 45 deaths in ten incidents that have occurred since February this year.

 

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