Union throws spanners into Northam deal

THE NATIONAL Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has called on Minister of Mineral Resources Ngoako Ramatlhodi through the Empowerment Directorate to vehemently reject Northam Platinum’s proposed black economic empowerment (BEE) programme as it was not consulted as a base stakeholder. “This transaction in its current format, as it will fail the most potent objective of the mining charter; which is meaningful economic participation for all the beneficiaries,” the NUM said in a statement yesterday. It said the same call should go the Public Investment Corporation as the majority shareholder and reported “funder” of the transaction, to review its position on this transaction in its current form. Northam Platinum will sell shares as part of a R6.6 billion plan to raise the holding of black South Africans to 35.4 percent in the company. Northam will sell more than 112 million new shares at R41 each to a group of black shareholders for R4.6bn, it said yesterday. – Dineo Faku