WORKERS employed by Lakshmi Mittal, Britain’s richest man, are accusing the billionaire of cashing in on “slave labour” conditions after scores have died in accidents in his mines.

Coalminers working in Mittal’s Kazakh mines claim his firm is endangering their lives by using dangerous, outdated equipment and by cutting corners. More than 90 have died in the mines since 2004.

Miners claim that conditions are worse than in Soviet times and say they would rather work in Siberian mines.

This weekend Arcelor Mittal, his company, said health and safety was a “top priority” and that it intended to invest £63m improving safety at the mines.

The criticisms were made by miners and widows of some of those who have died at Mittal’s mines in Kazakhstan, which he has owned since 1996.

Last September a gas explosion killed 41 in the Lenina mine. Two years earlier an explosion in the neighbouring Shakhtinskaya mine claimed the lives of 13.

“We are being treated by Mittal’s people as little more than slave labour,” said Sergei, a Lenina miner. “Conditions are far worse than they were in Soviet times. The danger is so high that when I go to work I often feel I’m on a suicide mission.

“I lost eight close colleagues in the [2006] explosion. Since then nothing has been done to improve safety. We are all just waiting for the next accident to happen. It’s so tough here that many are leaving to work in mines in Siberia.” Other Mittal miners said that some of the machinery and equipment dated back to the 1970s. “Absolutely nothing has changed since the explosion,” said Yuri, another Lenina miner.

Alarm systems used to detect gas levels are said to be faulty and outdated. Ventilation pipes are made of a rubber fabric that often tears and which miners stitch up by hand with metal wire. Unlike in the West, Mittal’s Kazakh miners still use shovels for some work and are made to drag 260lb steel beams to shore up the mineshafts.

Mittal, whose family’s wealth is valued at £19 billion in The Sunday Times Rich List, runs the world’s biggest steel producer. He has a £70m mansion in central London and this year donated £2m to Labour.

Arcelor Mittal said the miners’ concerns were being addressed. It said it would spend £13.2m this year on mod-ernisation. New personal gas detectors and masks are on order. The firm says its investment is already paying off: there have been no fatalities this year and injuries have dropped by 30%.

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