Mines reeling from AIDS impact

The largest survey to date on the impact of AIDS on South African business shows that HIV/AIDS-related illnesses and deaths are taking their toll on the country's mining sector. The in-depth 'South African Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS' (SABCOHA) survey says over 60 percent of mines have reported lower profits due to the impact of the pandemic. A local newspaper, The Sunday Times, quoted SABCOHA CEO Brad Mears as saying: "From a production perspective, the mining and manufacturing sectors are by far the worst affected among the sectors surveyed." More than 1,000 companies from the mining, manufacturing, retail, wholesale and motor trade sectors participated in the survey, conducted by the Bureau for Economic Research between July and September 2004.