Fatalities go unrecorded in mining industry – Experts

Many fatalities go unrecorded in the mining industry where many workers face deadly hazards underground and potential cover-ups by management and authorities if accidents occur, experts said on Monday.

The saga of 33 miners trapped in Chile since an August 5 cave-in in a tunnel 2,300 feet (700 meters) below the surface has exposed perilous labour conditions in a booming sector chasing strong prices for gold, coal and copper.

The men caught in the San Jose copper and gold mine, whom Chilean officials hope to start evacuating on Wednesday, have set a world record for the length of time workers have survived underground after a mining accident.

There are no reliable global statistics for deaths in one of the world’s most dangerous jobs, but a Geneva-based trade unions federation estimates there are 12,000 fatalities per year.

“These are only recorded ones that we are able to track,” said Dick Blin, spokesman of the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM).

“A lot of mining deaths aren’t recorded. It is really hard to put a number of it.

“In a lot of countries, management will go to the widows or family and give them money and make them sign statements not to talk about it.

“The problem is very prevalent in China,” he said.

Major mining accidents claiming dozens of lives each have occured this year in China, Colombia, Russia and West Virginia in the United States.