The trend is in the right direction, driven by a number of factors including technology, tightening regulations, union activism, mechanisation where South Africa's complex geology allows, growing investor concerns about safety and industry initiatives led by the CEOs.

South Africa's mining industry has set a new milestone on its road to "Zero Harm", recording the lowest number of accidentals deaths among its workforce over the course of a calendar year in 2025.

At 41 - compared with the previous record low of 42 in 2024 - the number remains shocking. But compared with the carnage of the past it represents a vast improvement and underscores the point that South Africa's deep and dangerous mines are no longer death traps grinding out the mangled bodies of an overwhelmingly Black labour force.

The data - which is provisional - was unveiled by the Minerals Council SA in its annual "Facts & Figures" booklet on Monday at the start of the Mining Indaba in Cape Town.

"A standout achievement was recording a fatality-free August 2025," the council said. Viewed through another prism, South African miners died on the job in each of the other 11 months of 2025.

There was also a worrying spike in deaths from falls of ground incidents with a 25% increase to 15 in 2025 from 12 in 2024.

Still, the trend is in the right direction, driven by a number of factors including technology, tightening regulations,...