Anglo American Under Fire Over South Africa Platinum Operations

Mining giant Anglo American's South African mines have displaced thousands of locals, polluted water supplies and killed miners, a BBC investigation has uncovered.

Over the past five years, thousands of people have been forced to leave their ancestral lands and move to purpose-built townships financed by UK-based Anglo Platinum, which has offered compensation and new land.

But villagers who have resisted claim they have been shot with rubber bullets by the police, the BBC Radio 4 report claims.

Water samples taken around Anglo's mines in the Limpopo province have been found unfit for human consumption, contaminated with potentially fatal nitrates.

Anglo American, which is the largest producer of platinum in the region through subsidiary Anglo Platinum, says it is treating safety as a priority and that it is aiming to make communities better off.

South Africa is the world's largest producer of platinum.

By staff writer