Rio Tinto backgrounder 9

The RIO TINTO Campaign site

BACKGROUNDER No. 9

March 1998

RIO TINTO - NAMIBIAN COMPENSATION CASES

Rio Tinto's Rossing uranium mine in Namibia has often been cited as one of the worst mines in the world in terms of worker health and safety. The mining which took place during the period when Namibia was illegally occupied by armed forces from the South African apartheid regime was in violation of UN resolutions. Hardly surprising then that there was also little or no regard for the normal health regulations which should govern such a mine.

From when the mine opened in the late 1970s, and through much of the 1980s, workers were subjected to appalling conditions. Many workers, both black and white, were exposed to unsafe conditions. Miners have claimed they were not monitored for radiation exposure from the radioactive gases and dust from the mine. It is also claimed the company specifically neglected the black workers - only the white employees received annual medical checks. Further, black workers were also forced to live segregated from their families. Despite the risks, some mine workers braved retribution from the company and the South African security forces, and exposed their situation to the world. As one public testimony explained:

“We are not provided with remedies and there is no hospital to treat us. Our bodies are cracking and sore, the nearest clinic is 120 kilometres to and from Swakopmund, and under this repressive system it is very complicated to be absent from work for medical purposes. .....We are accomodated 8 to 10 people in one cell: I am not sure that the word `cell' is relevant, but that is the word used. We are suffering, as there is no transport to the (medical) clinic” ^[1]

During the apartheid years Rio Tinto owned a 55% stake in the mine; this has now increased to 68%. It was only after trade unionists, medical organisations and environmental groups started campaigns in the western countries buying the Namibian uranium that the situation at the mine improved. However, the conditons at the mine took their toll and have left a legacy of workers with illnesses which they believe were caused by the unsafe working conditions.

One former Rossing worker, Edward Connelly, has taken legal action against Rio Tinto and is suing the company for compensation. He believes exposure to uranium dust caused his throat cancer and claims that the dust from the ore crusher was so thick that “it blocked out the sun.” ^[2] Connelly claims that despite the problems with radioactive dust, the workers were not offered dust masks to protect them. Connelly has fought to have his case heard in the UK, where Rio Tinto's headquarters are based. Despite legal action by the company, the House of Lords upheld Connelly's appeal to have the case heard in Britain. This landmark ruling might open the way for other multinationals to be sued in their `home' states, rather than in the country where the damage occurred. Connelly's solicitors have now submitted another case, being brought by the widow of a Rossing workers, for hearing in the UK. ^[3]

Footnotes

^[1] `Plunder of Namibian Uranium” Major findings of the Hearings on Namibian Uranium held by the United Nations Council for Namibia in July 1980. United Nations, New York 1982. p. 6

^[2] Uranium worker seeks cancer claim” The Observer, London, 18 September 1994

^[3] For further details contact Richard Meeran, Leigh, Day & Co., London Tel + 44 171 650 1200