'Will I Come Back Dead?' Human Costs of South African Gold
- Digging deeper shafts at South African mines boosts tremors
- South African gold miners face tough geological challenges
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After more than two decades of improving mine safety since the end of apartheid, South Africa’s progress has stalled with an increase in gold-mining deaths.
More than 50 people have died in the country’s mines in 2018, roughly the same number as this time last year. While annual death tolls are far lower than the 615 in recorded in 1993 -- the last full year of apartheid -- 2017 witnessed the first rise in 10 years.