According to the latest figures from the mining lobby group, more than 15,000 positive cases have been identified in the industry and more than 160 have died.

The council said the industry's test rate was 10.48%, compared with South Africa's 6.3% and the global 6.7%.

The council's senior executive public affairs and transformation Tebello Chabana said last week it had been important for companies to access testing capacity "where and when they needed it".

"To this end, the minerals council engaged with a wide range of testing laboratories to establish capacity and ensure access to expanded capacity," Chabana said.

"We are very confident that this approach has made a very substantial difference, not only in ensuring greater testing capacity for mining employees but more broadly in South Africa."

Among its members, Seriti Resources and Exxao had established a joint testing initiative, while Glencore Alloys had funded Ndlovu health care group's acquisition of testing equipment.

In statistics released on Friday, the council said the industry had 450,721 employees, of whom 348,637 had been screened.

Of the 47,232 tested, 15,232 were positive, 14,594 had recovered, there were 476 active cases and 162 deaths.

The figures were slightly higher than those provided in an update a day earlier.

The council had said of about 450,000 employees, 338,264 had returned to work.

Mines had been closed earlier this year as part of a nationwide shutdown to stem the spread of the pandemic. They were returning to 100% capacity around mid-year, whille the return of foreign workers had been slower than expected.

 

South Africa recently had the fifth highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases globally.

It is now seventh, according to Johns Hopkins University today, with 638,517 and 14,889 deaths.