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The long-awaited settlement for former mine workers with lung diseases will be between R70 000 and R500 000 per person, City Press has learned.
The mines’ spokesman Alan Fine denied it late on Friday saying that there is no settlement yet, but there might be one soon.
These are however the figures presented to unions in Johannesburg on Friday and will most likely be sent to the Pretoria High Court for approval within the next month.
City Press was told of the offer by an attendee, but the lawyer driving the case, Richard Spoor, were willing to confirm it.
Last year, mining companies started putting aside contingent liabilities on their balance sheets as negotiations were gravitating towards concrete numbers. The total thus far for listed gold mining companies is about R5bn.
The mines would have calculated these figures with a total number of claimants in mind. At the agreed range of payouts of R70 000 to R500 000, the mines would have to estimate at most about 85 000 claimants.
The deal is structured in such a way that the mines would pay in more money if more people showed up.
Anglo American SA alone has a R1.2 billion contingent liability on its books.
Coincidentally, South Africa’s controversial separate statutory system for compensating mine workers with lung diseases is this month increasing its payouts for the first time in almost a decade.
The maximum state payout to mine workers disabled by occupational diseases such as silicosis is now a one-off amount of R140 506, which is almost 40% more than the R105 012 it has been stuck at since 2009.
However, even this long-delayed increase still amounts to a decrease in the real value of the compensation. If the lump sums had kept pace with inflation, they would now be R160 000.
The minimum payout has increased from R34 458 to R46 105.
From now on, a sick mine worker will be entitled to at least R116 000 and at most R640 000 for a fatal and incurable disease such as silicosis.
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