Dineo Faku

LONMIN had delivered on a promise to provide more than 600 community members with jobs, the third-largest producer of platinum group metals said on Friday.

Ian Farmer, the chief executive, said on the sidelines of the Investing in African Mining Indaba, held in Cape Town last week, that the company had created 643 jobs for residents of communities around its operations in the North West by December last year.

The residents are employed as general labourers following a number of protests at the Marikana operations, which resulted in stoppages at the mine.

“We promised to create 600 jobs, and between August and December 643 people were recruited from the community. There were fractions of the community which wanted us to employ 2 000 people,” Farmer said.

Farmer vowed to fight for the associated mineral rights at its property, which were awarded to Keysha Investments 220.

“We believe we have a good legal case, and we will protect our rights. That is our current plan of action,” Farmer said.

In May 2010, Keysha was awarded a prospecting right for chrome, copper and nickel ore and other base metals over a portion of land at Marikana, which is owned by Lonmin.

Platinum producers lost production in the 2011 financial year because of industrial action and safety stoppages as a result of accidents. Rising costs and stoppages have darkened the sector’s outlook.

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu told the conference on Tuesday last week that the platinum sector accounted for 30 percent of fatalities in the mining industry. Last year 123 miners died in work-related accidents, compared with 127 in 2010.

Farmer said Lonmin was planning to reduce the number of stoppages. “We’d like to improve our safety regime. We would like to avoid stoppages and the effect on production. If we don’t generate cash we cannot produce,” he said.

Farmer said Lonmin’s decision to partner with the Xstrata-Merafe venture to treat chromite concentrate in tailings feed was paying off handsomely.

The share price lost 1.4 percent to R124.73 on the JSE on Friday.