Mineral and Petroleum Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe informed the Joburg Mining Indaba on Thursday that there has actually been a deeply worrying regression in unexpected deaths this year in South Africa’s deep and hazardous mines, a substantial problem to the market’s evasive objective of “absolutely no damage.”
“We are at 52 fatals currently this year,” Mantashe stated in his closing address to the conference, hosted by Resources for Africa.
“Platinum and gold still eliminate a lot of individuals,” he stated without offering a comprehensive breakdown on deaths by product.
In 2025, South Africa had a record low for a fiscal year of 41 unintentional deaths connected to mining– a turning point that was grim however which likewise showed huge enhancements from the carnage of the past when as numerous as 800 miners passed away in one year.
If the existing rate is kept, South Africa will have about 70 mining deaths in 2026, approaching double in 2015’s toll. These dreadful statistics are just assembled for the legal mining market and the toll amongst zama zamas is extensively thought to be much greater.
Flashing lights
There have actually been lots of flashing traffic signals on this front. In February, 5 miners passed away in a mud rush at the Ekapa diamond mine in Northern Cape.
In late July, Impala Platinum (Implats) took the extremely uncommon action of proactively bringing its large Rustenburg operations, which use 51,500 individuals to a short-lived stop for a “security reset”.
This extraordinary interruption can be found in the wake of 2 deadly mishaps weeks apart including underground engines geared up with sensing units and other devices that need to have avoided such events, highlighting the point that technological advances do not constantly provide the preferred outcomes.
A senior executive with a significant South African mining business informed Daily Maverick on the sidelines of the indaba that on a current roadshow overseas the most significant issue revealed by foreign financiers was security.
Much of the security drive in South Africa’s mines in current years has actually been in action to the needs of financiers who do not desire their dividends soaked in blood.
< img loading =”lazy”src =”https://i0.wp.com/media.pmnsports.co.uk/2026/10/pmn-371a28e54bda703d.jpg?w=1200&ssl=1″alt =”Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe”title =” Gwede Mantashe (Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources) briefs the media after the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee (NEC) special meeting at Birchwood Hotel on October 06, 2025 in Boksburg, South Africa. The National Executive Committee (NEC) deliberated on key issues of national importance, including the economy, governance, and progress in service delivery.(Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo)”>
Security very first
Security in mining is very first and primary an ethical vital– it has to do with human lives and self-respect, elements that counted for little under apartheid when Black lives did not matter in the conference room and a primarily migrant labour force went through callous exploitation in a commercial meat mill underground.
In this more informed day and age, a risky market with an increasing death toll is a deterrent to financial investment, andas an outcome, it likewise costs tasks and the larger economy in the long run.
Something is for particular: this obstacle will be a leading concern amongst mining CEOs and ideally this troubling pattern can be apprehended. DM
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