PGM mining facilities must excel at safety, not just show steady improvement, South African minerals and energy minister Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka announced today.

She was addressing delegates at a mine health and safety summit in Johannesburg when she made her comments.

Ms Mlambo-Ngcuka highlighted the increasing number of accidents at platinum mining operations, which are in line with the growth in the PGM sector of the mining industry, and stressed that safety needed to to develop with the industry.

Improvements have been made across the board, with 0.74 mining deaths each year per 1,000 workers at the end of 2002, an improvement on the annual rate of 1.02 deaths per 1,000 in 1995.

'The future of the industry can hang in the balance because of this issue', she said. 'We mustn't get caught on the back foot although we already are'.

The aim of the one-day summit is to establish health and safety targets for the mining industry in order to reduce the number of fatal accidents.