By Thys Khiba
The world’s largest primary producer of platinum and third largest producer of gold, Sibanye-Stillwater confirmed 575 mine workers have been retrenched at Kloof, while another 550 accepted separation packages.
“While the decision to close or restructure operations is never taken lightly, the closure of Kloof 4 shaft was necessary to curb ongoing financial loses,” said CEO Neal Froneman.
Froneman indicated that the consultation process “encouragingly achieved this required outcome while also reducing the number of retrenchments.”
According to the second largest primary producer of palladium, 575 employees from its Kloof 4 shaft were retrenched after a Section 189 consultation process that commenced in September. This process affected almost 2 400 employees, 550 accepted voluntary separation or early retirement packages.
Gold mining company also indicated the services of 581 contract miners have been terminated while it did manage to save 1 057 jobs by moving workers to other mines. The miner has also retrenched another 348 employees from across other gold operations. A total of 1 057 workers agreed to be transferred to fill vacant positions at its other gold operations in the country. The cuts also affected 581 contractors, with some employees and contractors to be temporarily retained during decommissioning.
Meanwhile, the Marikana platinum assets are also going through a similar consultation process that may affect more than 4 000 jobs. This consultation process affects 4 095 mine workers at its Marikana platinum mines. A process has been ongoing since October, while the company indicated that a similar process has been initiated at its Stillwater Mine, East Boulder Mine, the Columbus Metallurgical Complex and Columbus offices and other locations in its US.
The price of platinum has fallen more than 14% so far in 2023, while palladium has lost almost 45%.
In 2020, the company had 84 775 employees. In 2022, Sibanye-Stillwater valued at about R60 billion on the JSE, had about 64 000 employees in its SA operations, with about 24 500 gold employees and 36 800 PGM employees.
The decision comes after sustained losses at the operation near Carletonville, one of the world’s deepest mines. Sibanye-Stillwater indicated previously the process followed “unsuccessful attempts to address productivity issues and other operational constraints at the Kloof 4 shaft, including seismicity and cooling constraints.”
The company has been the owner and operator of the Kloof gold mine since February 2013. The process happened in 2013 when Gold Fields unbundled most of its SA gold mines to the new company, along with five other marginal mines in Gauteng and the Free State provinces.
It has been reported an incident that caused significant damage to the infrastructure during July contributed to the closure of the operation, with the move coming despite high gold prices, with precious metal currently fetching almost $2 100 an ounce, having risen 17% in the past year.
The company also been reducing costs in its platinum operations as it struggles a downturn in prices. The group has also increased borrowings to fund operations and acquisitions to diversify away from the PGMs.
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