South African mining companies are reviewing safety protocols after fatalities this year reached 53 by October 12, Minerals Council South Africa chief executive Mzila Mthenjane told Reuters in Cape Town. The figure is already above the historic lows of 41 deaths in all of 2025 and 42 in 2024, breaking a two year run that the industry had presented as evidence its safety systems were working.
Mthenjane said there is concern among companies and particularly chief executives over current safety performance, that most fatalities were reported in the gold and platinum sectors because they are the biggest employers, and that the sector is examining how controls are implemented. He also stressed that workers have a right to refuse unsafe work, a provision that becomes the practical test of any review.
The safety reversal lands on a sector already shrinking. South African mining output fell 12.7 percent year on year in August, after a revised 7 percent decline in July, as power costs, logistics failures and deepening, ageing shafts raise the cost of every tonne. Deeper and older mines are also harder to keep safe, which is why the fatality trend and the production trend should be read together: the industry is being asked to do more difficult mining with less margin for error, and this year’s numbers say the controls have not kept pace.