Dineo Faku

IMPALA Platinum (Implats), which axed 17 200 employees last week for participating in an illegal strike, announced on Friday that it was expecting higher profit for the six months to December.

In a statement on Friday, Implats said it expected headline earnings a share and basic earnings a share to be between 60 percent and 70 percent higher year on year at R5.52 to R5.87.

However, the company’s labour woes continue at its Rustenburg operation where production ground to a halt because of the illegal strike.

Implats, which produced 1.74 million ounces of platinum in the 2010 financial year in South Africa and Zimbabwe, was losing 3 000 ounces of production a day due to the strike.

While the 17 200 employees were fired for participating in an unprotected strike, Implats has given the employees an opportunity to reapply for their positions.

“We don’t know how many people will be hired back, it depends on how many reapply. The process will start in due course, we are still busy with dismissals,” Implats spokeswoman Alice Lourens said on Friday.

The strike began when 5 000 rock drill operators downed tools to demand an 18 percent increase in salaries. They were excluded when salaries of miners were hiked.

At the heart of the strike are union rivalry claims. The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has blamed the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) for intimidation. However, AMCU president Joseph Mathunjwa said the strike was an issue between management and the NUM. The AMCU is not recognised at Implats because it has not requested organisational rights.

Last month Implats chief executive David Brown announced his resignation. Terence Goodlace, the former Metorex chief executive, has been appointed to take over from July.

Implats shares fell 1.59 percent to close at R167.97 on Friday.