Miners sue over lung disease

South African gold miners suffering from a lung disease are suing the local subsidiary of Anglo gold processing wash plantsAmerican in London, potentially for hundreds of millions of pounds, lawyers said on Wednesday.

A group of 450 mainly black ex-miners for the South African subsidiary of the London-listed firm claim to have contracted silicosis, during years of toiling underground. The case was filed at a London High Court. “The miners allege they are suffering from silicosis and silico-tuberculosis from exposure to dangerous levels of dust on the company's South African gold mines,” London-based law firm Leigh Day & Company said in a statement. Cases of the disease - caused by inhaling tiny dust particles that are a by-product of mining - date back for decades, involving claims of...