South African Gold Producers Reach Lung-Disease Settlement

Anglo American Plc, Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. and other mining companies agreed to resolve a lawsuit filed by workers who said they contracted deadly lung diseases in South African gold mines in the country’s largest class-action settlement deal. The agreement provides for compensation for all eligible workers suffering from silicosis or tuberculosis who worked in the companies’ mines at any point since March 1965, the parties said in a statement Thursday. The six producers, which also include AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. and Gold Fields Ltd., last year set aside about 5 billion rand ($390 million) to settle the lawsuit.