A medical officer said Anglo American was aware of the danger lead poisoning posed to employees and commissioned a now missing study into its impact in a community close to the Zambian mine where he worked, reports Fin24.
According to Fin24, the claim bolsters a lawsuit in which a group of Zambian women and children allege Anglo caused widespread lead poisoning from the Broken Hill mine in which it had a stake until 1974. They are demanding compensation and a clean-up of the area.
Anglo said while it had an interest in the mine it wasn't the owner or operator, without giving more precise detail. “Conflating Zambia Broken Hill Development Company with Anglo American is simply incorrect,” it said.
Lawrence's affidavit was submitted in April, six months after the case was brought to South Africa's High Court. He said the delay was because it was not feasible to visit a notary public in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic.
“The invariably high levels convinced me that the problem was very serious,” Lawrence said, adding that contaminated dust from the mine blew into the township where, in addition to being breathed in, it settled on gravel where children played, and contaminated food and cooking utensils. Lawrence, who now lives in England, said he didn't understand why an investigation hadn't been carried out. and he then oversaw the taking of about 500 blood samples to test for lead contamination.
Fin24 reports that within the month of him submitting his findings to management, a Professor Lane and Doctor King from Manchester University arrived to investigate the problem, he said. He never saw their report.
"We have every sympathy for the people of Kabwe and their plight, but we do intend to defend ourselves because we do not believe we are responsible for the current situation," Anglo said in a response to queries.
Law firms Leigh Day and Mbuyisa Moleele, who are representing the plaintiffs, said in a statement that Anglo claims not to have any documents “of relevance pertaining to the operation of the Kabwe Mine”, including the Lane/King report. The firms said evidence they have from the Zambian state mining archives shows the documents would have been copied to Anglo's then head offices in Johannesburg.
Anglo said the documents were handed over to the state mining company when it was nationalised.
A hearing to consider Anglo's request for an extension so that it can file its response was being heard in the Gauteng division of the High Court this week. Anglo said it has been denied access to crucial documents.
The case was filed by 13 plaintiffs on behalf of an estimated 100 000 people. The group lawsuit is the latest over Anglo American's decades of mining in southern Africa. In 2018, it and five other companies paid about $390 million (around R5.56 billion) to settle a class action by former gold miners suffering from the respiratory disease silicosis.
The lawsuit was filed in South Africa because at the time of the mine's operation Anglo was headquartered in Johannesburg. The company is now based in London.
Full News24 story (Open access)
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