In 2025, 41 SA miners were killed at work — a record annual low, according to provisional data

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, union activism, mechanisation where South Africa’s complex geology allows, growing investor concerns about safety and industry initiatives led by the CEOs.

What this means
South Africa’s mining sector continues to make huge strides on the safety front. Expect AI and automation to start playing much bigger safety roles in the future. For the mining industry – at least the legitimate players represented by the Minerals Council – safety is regarded as sacrosanct. It’s about human lives. But a safer industry also makes business sense. Stoppages related to accidents are costly and raise investor concerns. The goal “Zero Harm” remains elusive but the progress to date shows it is possible.

The so-called ESGs (environmental, social and governance concerns) have risen to the top of corporate agendas.

In the 1980s the annual mining death toll in South Africa reached as high as 800 – blood-drenched testimony to the ruthless exploitation of Black migrant labourers under apartheid.

In 2013, 93 South African miners were killed – the number is now less than half of that grim total, while the sector actually employed slightly more people last year than it did in 2013, according to Minerals Council data.

“Serious injuries in the mining industry fell by 12%, dropping to 1,693 in 2025,” the council said.

Further details will be presented at a health and safety briefing on Tuesday. DM