One-hundred-and-twenty-eight mine workers died in 2010, Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya said on Tuesday.
“We are very sad about the 128 mine workers who lost their lives in 2010,” he told media in Johannesburg.
However, he said that the figure was the best annual improvement since 2003, despite deeper mines and the slow progress towards the culture of safety in South Africa
The figure was a 24% improvement over the 168 deaths in 2009.
A dramatic improvement was also recorded in deaths resulting from seismicities, said Sietse van der Woude, the safety and sustainable development adviser for the chamber.
There had been four deaths in November 2010, he said, although this figure was provisional.
Twenty-three mine workers died in seismic related accidents in 2007. — Sapa