THE PRICE OF GOLD

The recent rise in the price of gold to $750 per troy ounce has led to mines being sunk to even more dangerous levels. "South Africa's gold companies, already mining at the world's deepest depths, are looking to plumb even deeper veins in a new gold rush spurred by soaring prices. The deeper miners go the richer the ore being uncovered. The price in dangers, though, includes rock falls, poisonous gas explosions, flooding and earthquakes. That has stirred up concerns about the safety of miners, who experts say have the worst lot among South Africa's industrial workers. Some foreign companies have been deterred by the risks here. But Gold Fields, the country's second-biggest producer after AngloGold Ashanti, is ready to set a new record, digging more than 2.5 miles at its Driefontein mine. A worker was killed there earlier this month by a tremor at just under 2 miles. For comparison, the deepest mine elsewhere in the world is in Ontario, at 1.5 miles. Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd., the world's fifth largest producer, wants to develop a new mine below an existing one at Elandsrand, at a depth of about two miles, which it says would extend the life of the mine by 18 years. ..Of 119 people reported killed in South African mines last year, 113 died in gold mines. ...A South African commission in 1994 said each ton of gold produced in South Africa cost one life and 12 serious injuries. South Africa produces about 600 tons of gold a year. ..In August, a mineworkers' strike won wage increases of 7.5 percent to 10 percent. The average miner makes $365 to $511 a month." (Yahoo News, 13 October) As prices soar and profits too there is no risk the owners won’t take - with workers' lives! RD