(For a Special Report on silicosis in South Africa, click on link.reuters.com/duv27s)
By Ed Cropley
JOHANNESBURG, March 20 (Reuters) – A South African lawyer
said on Tuesday he was preparing a class action lawsuit against
leading gold mining firms on behalf of thousands of former
miners who say they contracted silicosis, a debilitating lung
disease, through negligent health and safety.
Attorney Richard Spoor, whose legal battle against a South
African asbestos-mining company led to a $100 million settlement
in 2003, said he would file class action papers with the High
Court in Johannesburg “within the next few months”.
“We have a very important meeting with our advocates on
Monday to thrash out the final form of the application,” Spoor
told Reuters.
He said he had so far signed up 6,876 plaintiffs from South
Africa and Lesotho, the landlocked kingdom that has provided
hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to South Africa’s gold
mines over the last century.
The principal targets of the suit would be AngloGold Ashanti
, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold – South
Africa’s three biggest gold miners – and minor producer DRD Gold
, Spoor said.
Frans Barker, chief operating officer of the Chamber of
Mines and the main industry spokesman on silicosis, declined
specific comment.
“We’re continuing with our work on these issues,
irrespective of the class action. We wouldn’t like to respond to
the class action itself because that depends very much on the
merit of specific cases,” he said.
Continued…
