South African silicosis case goes to UK high court

Enviromine

A London law firm has begun proceedings in the UK high court against a Johannesburg-listed subsidiary of Anglo American plc on allegations that ex-employees are suffering from silicosis and silico-tuberculosis.

Law firm Leigh Day & Co said it has brought the case against Anglo American South Africa Ltd on behalf of “potentially thousands of ex-gold miners”.

The firm said the miners allege their ill health is the result of “exposure to dangerous levels of dust on the company’s South African gold mines”.

The proceedings in London’s high court name over 450 claimants in an action potentially worth hundreds of millions of pounds.
The cases relate to employees who worked in the company’s South African gold mines until 1998.

Leigh Day & Co said the case has been brought in the UK as Anglo American is a UK listed company, giving English courts jurisdiction.

“Given the suffering and poverty of the victims and the length of time the industry has failed to address the issue of compensation for the miner, Leigh Day & Co hope a settlement scheme would be established at an early stage” it said.

It its annual general meeting in April this year, Anglo American’s chairman, John Parker, made reference to previous and other ongoing silicosis claims against the company.

Mr Parker referred to cases brought against Anglo American South Africa in 2004 in South Africa by Alpheos Blom and seven other former employees.

Mr Parker said in April that “Anglo American believes the claims against it are ill-founded, and that this will be demonstrated in the course of the proceedings,” but added that the company was working with claimants to expedite claims in the South Africa courts as well as “find an alternative method of resolving the disputes outside of the formal court process”.