Gold Fields told to improve facilities

GOLD Fields was told to improve workers’ facilities at its South Deep mine, including offering a mobile health clinic and accommodation for some staff, in a letter from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR). The letter asked it to put in place a social programme, Gold Fields spokesman Sven Lunsche said, confirming a report yesterday in Business Day. “We’ve responded to the DMR… and we are working to resolve [those issues] in a timely manner,” he said. Gold Fields brought in a team of Australians this year to turn around performance at South Deep, a mine that would have become the nation’s biggest next year if not for delays. “Mining companies must be forced to comply with the law,” Livhuwani Mammburu, a spokesman for the National Union of Mineworkers, said. If they didn’t comply, “their licences must be taken away”. – Bloomberg