Johannesburg - The jobs bloodbath in the mining sector continued yesterday with almost 1 000 jobs on the line after mining and commodity trader, Glencore, said it was cutting 818 jobs following the closure of its Eland platinum mine in Brits.
The job cuts come just 24 hours after Royal Bafokeng Platinum said it was retrenching 174 workers at its Rasimone mine outside Rustenburg.
The retrenchments are indicative of the precarious state of the mining industry and come despite a commitment at the end of August by the government, organised labour and business to reduce the job cuts and turn around the fortunes of the industry.
The platinum industry has been a casualty of the low price environment with the spot price reaching a seven-year low last week after Volkswagen admitted that it had faked emissions tests for diesel cars, raising fears that the demand for the precious metal would decline even further.
Gugu Maqethuka, a Glencore spokesman, said the company had completed a section 189 consultation with unions as a result and had put the mine on care and maintenance. Companies are required by law to follow a section 189 consultation process with organised labour in the event of a restructuring.
CCMA
“The consultation process, facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), follows a decision to review operations at Eland due to ongoing market conditions in the platinum sector and the difficult operational conditions at the mine,” he said.
Maqethuka said 21 employees would be retained, while the mine was on care and maintenance.
Livhuwani Mammburu, the acting National Union of Mineworkers spokesman, said the union was engaging with Glencore to reduce the job losses.
“We are doing everything we can to reduce the job losses. We also want the company to adhere to the laws of this country,” he said.
Glencore produced 76 000 platinum equivalent ounces in the first half of this year, down 6 percent compared with the second half of last year due to reduced output from its Mototolo mine and operational issues at Eland. Eland produced 35 000 ounces of platinum metals in the first quarter of this year, Glencore said in May.
The Eland closure leaves Glencore with Mototolo mine in Limpopo, now its only other platinum asset in South Africa, which it jointly owns with Anglo American Platinum.
Meanwhile, Royal Bafokeng spokesman Mpueleng Pooe said 174 employees were affected by the retrenchments. The job cuts were due to the “challenging” market conditions affecting the industry.
“Royal Bafokeng Platinum has not been immune to the impact of these challenging conditions, as we highlighted during the company’s interim results presentation on August 4, 2015, how the business had been impacted.
“Like the rest of the industry, we have had to relook at the business and re-engineer and reposition it in response to these economic conditions.”
Glencore shares rose 9.58 percent to R25.96, while Royal Bafokeng Platinum closed 5.5 percent up at R27.43.
* Additional reporting by Bloomberg and ANA
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