Gold Fields, South Africa’s second-biggest gold miner, is facing a US$7-billion legal challenge by former workers who claim they were contaminated by uranium and have fallen ill.
Apartheid Claims Task Force (ACT) lawyer John Ngecebetsha, who represents more than 500 of the former workers, filed the lawsuit in a New York court in early May.
Gold Fields says it will “strenuously defend” itself against the suit and that it has nothing to hide. Also, despite the company’s listing on the New York Stock Exchange, it says it does not recognize U.S. jurisdiction over the issue.
Uranium is often mined as a byproduct of gold in South Africa.
The suit is not seeking apartheid reparations but damages related to working conditions, such as those won on behalf of South African miners suffering from asbestos-related illnesses.
Ngecebetsha and U.S. lawyer Ed Fagan have already filed a suit against South African-based Anglo American and its diamond subsidiary, De Beers, for US$6.1 billion in damages on behalf of apartheid victims.
In the 1990s, Fagan headed a successful claim against Swiss banks on behalf of Holocaust victims.
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