Ginat steelmaker Mittal is to pay 10 years' wages to the families of workers killed in accidents in its mines in Kazakhstan in the past two years, a company official was quoted as saying Thursday.
"The families of all miners who died on the sites of Mittal Steel Temirtau in 2005 and 2006 will soon receive compensation equivalent to 10 years' pay," company financial director Vassiliy Telnoy said, according to the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency.
Speaking at Karaganda in central Kazakhstan, Telnoy said the amount would be around 2.6 million tenga (20,000 dollars) in each case, without saying how many families would benefit. In September an explosion and fire at the Mittal-owned Karaganda mine left at least 41 people dead. The blast was most likely caused by a build-up of methane gas around 500 metres (1,600 feet) below ground.
Kazakhstan's Lenin mine is part of a vast steelmaking complex in Karaganda and one of a number run in the former communist bloc by Mittal, the world's largest steelmaker. Coal is a vital raw material in the steel-making process.
"We deeply regret this tragic accident and extend our full sympathy and condolences to the families of everyone who has been affected," the company's president Lakshmi Mittal said at the time.
The mine has known previous problems, including a December 2004 blast that killed 23 miners. The complex produces 5.5 million tonnes of steel a year and was bought by the company, operating under a different name at the time, in 1995. The deal was seen as a major boost for the then struggling Kazakh economy.
Mittal then won investment from the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) to turn the plant into a state-of-the-art production facility.
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