The class action the firms want to appeal to, paves the way for thousands of current and former miners suffering from silicosis and tuberculosis to seek damage compensation from the companies.
The company said financial losses at the mine threaten the viability of the rest of the Cooke operations, which include four mines and three processing plants.
If the class action goes ahead, it will affect almost every gold mine in South Africa, including their parent companies, covering their conduct over the last 50 years.
Bob Moriarty explains why precious metals investors may want to look beyond gold to a commodity with a long history and an interesting relationship to the yellow metal.
The country is said to be sitting on mineral deposits worth hundreds of billions of dollars which, once developed, could surpass oil as its main source of income.
