The Deafening Silence on the Lives and Deaths of the Zama Zama Miners

South African mines are notoriously unsafe with high levels of fatalities. This is partly attributed to the archaic methods of mining that have not changed over the last 150 years. Gold mining is carried out by thousands of semi and illiterate miners who use explosives to blast rocks into smaller pieces that are then carried to the surface where the gold is extracted. Small groups of Zama Zama miners basically use the same technique with very little by way of safety or communication technology at their disposal. So their level of danger is considerably higher in an already dangerous system.
http://sacsis.org.za/site/article/1935