South Africa's mining sector is digging for further breakthroughs in reducing falls of ground deaths after a regression last year from a record low in 2022.

Falls of ground - which literally means a falling rock smashing your head or crushing your body - have long been the leading cause of deaths in South Africa's deep and dangerous mines.

But like other vexed safety issues, the industry has made huge progress in reducing such incidents, known as FOGs. It is now digging for the next breakthrough to eliminate them completely.

In a presentation on Friday, 5 April, at an FOG Learning Day conference, Mzila Mthenjane, CEO of the Minerals Council SA, charted the breakthroughs that have occurred over the past two decades.

Highs and lows

In 2003, there were 131 FOG fatalities in South Africa's underground mining operations, and that number fell steeply to 96 in 2004. Over the next six years it would fall 50% to 49, and five years later it halved again to 23. In 2022, a record low of six was reached - the only single-digit year - but in 2023 it spiked again to 16.

Many workers who survive such incidents are badly mangled and maimed.

The real breakthrough came in 2010, with the rollout of overhead safety nets installed with bolts. In the last few years, new measures have included...