The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources says it has recorded 33 mine fatalities in 2026 so far. It says Impala Platinum (Implats) contributed over a third of those fatalities.

The department, together with Implats management and mineworkers’ union, AMCU, met with thousands of Impala mineworkers at the Royal Bafokeng Stadium near Rustenburg in North West.

The Emergency Safety Briefing followed concerns around increasing mine fatalities at Implats operations in Rustenburg.

The mining company temporarily suspended operations at its Rustenburg complex for five days, to conduct a comprehensive safety reset.

Senior Inspector of Mines at the department Jeanette Phefo, “To date we have lost 33 employees compared to 38 that we had lost in the past year. Rustenberg region on its own, we have lost 12 employees to date, and Impala has contributed to over a third of those accidents. So we really hope and believe that you had the message. We are going to go back to your operations and work safely as individual and as teams,”

However, Implats and AMCU differed on the recent statistics of mine fatalities.

“From January to July, we’ve lost five members in the line of duty. Two of them within four days, and that is unacceptable. While we were bowing our heads, the number got to six,” says Moses Motlhageng, Chief Executive at Impala Rustenburg.

“When you say only five people died, I tend to not to agree with you. Seven people died at Impala. irrespective of that it was not an accident per se, but that person died at work and it’s a mine accident,” says Joseph Mathunjwa, President of AMCU.

Video: Impala mineworkers concerned about increasing fatalities