A Johannesburg High Court on Friday approved a whopping 5 billion rand ($353 million) class action settlement between gold mining companies and law firms. The law firms are representing thousands of miners who were afflicted by silicosis and tuberculosis. The settlement is the result of a legal battle by miners and their employers for compensation on account of illnesses, they say contracted due to negligence by the mine owners.
The gold producers (mine owners) agreed in May last year to the settlement. The agreement needed approval by the Johannesburg High Court before being implemented. Launched in 2012, the class action case took seven years to bring it to a logical end. The companies, which are said to have caused the diseases are Harmony Gold, Gold Fields, African Rainbow Minerals ARIJ.J, Sibanye-Stillwater SGLJ.J, AngloGold Ashanti and Anglo American South Africa.
