Getty Images The year 2019 was the safest year on record with 51 deaths. SA's deep gold mines, followed by platinum, lead the sector in terms of high fatalities. Although South Africa's mining industry has been aiming to reduce mine fatalities to zero, the latest figures instead show an increase. On Thursday, the Minerals Council of South Africa (MCSA) said a total of 32 mineworkers had died to date this year in the country's mines – an increase from the rate seen a year ago. In 2020, as the industry navigated the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic – which hobbled full capacity operations in the initial months of the hard lockdown – some 24 mineworkers were killed in accidents.