[Ilander]

...Well.

Mine accidents actually occur about twice a year in the United States, at least over the past few years...

It's a dying profession, thanks largely to the amount of specialized equipment and techniques that vastly increase a person's individual productivity.

My old roommate was major in Mining Engineering at the University of Kentucky, one of the few places that still offers such a program, and he's been underground many, many times. The odds of this occuring are very low, and many, many safety precautions are taken.

The most unfortunate thing is how many of the raw materials we use on an everyday basis absolutely depend upon mining. Look around your room. You'll probably be hard pressed to find any item completely free of any sort of mined-materials.

What I see here is that South African safety standards are not up to snuff, and neither are their mining techniques.