Safety hits take shine off golden boy of Sibanye
Miners' deaths have workers questioning company's priorities
Hailed as the saviour of South Africa's ageing and decrepit gold mining industry, and well regarded by investors for his ability to sweat the most meagre of assets, Neal Froneman now faces the challenge of rising fatalities at his Sibanye-Stillwater operations. Last week, a seismic event trapped 13 miners, and eventually led to the death of seven at the company's Carletonville operations. The accident comes a few months after three workers died at other Sibanye operations, and 1,100 workers were trapped underground for more than 20 hours at its Beatrix operation in the Free State. The deaths bring to 67 the number of fatalities at Sibanye since the mining house bought Gold Fields KDC and Beatrix gold mines some five years ago to create South Africa's biggest mining house - that employs 65,000 people.There have been 413 mineworker deaths reported in South Africa in the past five years. Former Anglo American CEO Cynthia Carroll famously fired Neville Nicolau as the head of the miner's...
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