JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A U.S. law firm has filed a class action lawsuit against South African miner Sibanye-Stillwater on behalf of shareholders to recover losses suffered after a spate of deaths at its mines triggered a sharp fall in its share price.

Bernstein Liebhard LLP said in a statement the suit would deal with “misleading statements” made by the precious metals producer, which has had 21 fatalities on its operations so far in 2018, almost half of the total in South Africa’s mining industry.

Reporting by Tanisha Heiberg; Editing by Ed Stoddard