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Lawyers seek injunction against mining group ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----
Lawyers for South African miners suffering from asbestos-related illnesses said they would seek an interim injunction on Friday in a bid to stop South African company Gencor unwinding its main asset.
The case will be heard tomorrow (Tuesday) in a Johannesburg court, lawyer Richard Spoor told Reuters.
"We are seeking an interim interdict pending a final interdict, which will allow them a fuller chance to respond because this is quite short notice," Spoor said.
"The final interdict will seek to prevent an unbundling," Spoor added.
Gencor's company secretary Johan Marais said he was not aware of the court action. "We have not received anything".
Mining holding company Gencor said two weeks ago that it would distribute its 46% stake in world number-two platinum producer Impala Platinum - its last remaining asset - to shareholders on November 4 before unwinding operations.
Gencor shareholders are due to meet on October 2 to vote on the share distribution.
The move had been expected, but Spoor has vowed to prevent Gencor from unwinding the stake, valued at about 17,9-billion ($1,70-billion), in a bid to settle about R37-million in claims from former employees of Gencor's asbestos operations.
Gencor, which owned asbestos companies Gefco and Msauli from the early 1960s and sold them in 1988, has consistently denied any liability under South African law for any of the claims contained in Spoor's 37 summonses.
Spoor said on Friday he had been joined in the court action by lawyers for former employees of London-listed Cape, which once owned asbestos operations close to Gencor's mines in South Africa, and sold some of them to Gencor.
"We're hoping it will strengthen our case," Spoor said.
Lawyer Richard Meeran won an out-of-court settlement from Cape on December 2 1 to pay £21-million ($33-million) to 7 500 South African miners who blame the building materials firm for asbestos-related diseases they contracted in the 1970s.
Meeran said on Friday that Gencor's Gefco had bought some of Cape's operations in 1981.
"Many of (Cape's) claimants worked for and/or lived near these operations before and after 1981, and so have claims against both...Cape and Gencor," London-based Meeran said in a statement faxed to Reuters.
Marais would not comment on Meeran's claims. "Mr Meeran has more information than we have," he said. - Reuters.