Johannesburg - The number of miners who have lost their jobs, or face the prospect of losing their jobs, stands at about 32 000 due to the drop in metal prices to long-term lows and because of domestic economic turmoil.
Mosebenzi Zwane, the mineral resources minister, said yesterday that there had been further job losses since last year when around 23 000 miners were retrenched as companies grappled with a low-price environment and dwindling demand.
“The overall figure of job losses is 32 000. But not everybody has lost their jobs. We are engaging with stakeholders to mitigate the job losses through a number of initiatives including the re-skilling of workers, counselling and transferring workers from operations which are not doing well to others,” Zwane said. The extent of the job losses compares with total mining employment of about 450 000 people.
Retrenchments
His comments came amid Kumba Iron Ore’s announcement that it had begun talks with its staff about a restructuring that could result in losses of up to 4 000 jobs.
Kumba rose 1.34 percent on the JSE to close at R32.60, an indication that the news was well received by the market.
In other job related news, Lonmin, the third-biggest platinum producer, said it would delay retrenching employees after it decided to continue mining two of its operations until the end of the financial year.
The company last year announced that it had to cut 6 000 jobs owing to lower prices.
Lonmin closed 1.96 percent lower at R13.50 a share.
“A lot of companies, including Kumba, are restructuring because commodity prices have fallen, and that is the cause of the problem in terms of jobs,” Zwane added. “We are engaging with companies to deal with the situation in a responsible way.”
Kumba had started talks on staff reductions as part of a Section 189 restructuring process required by law. It said yesterday that 2 633 of its employees and 1 300 contractors would be affected by its decision to restructure the Sishen mine in Northern Cape.
Zwane said: “The issue of Section 189 is going to stay with us in the coming few weeks. We are going to grapple with companies that are going to come to us; it is not going to be a matter of just one mine.”
The job cuts come on the heels of a World Bank report this week that predicted iron ore prices would be the biggest losers among metals this year, and that demand was nearing its peak and prices would drop by 25 percent to average $42 (R693) a ton this year from $55.80 last year.
Zwane’s predecessor, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, led a pact in which mining industry players last year agreed to limit job losses.
Peter Temane, the chairman of the SA Mining Development Association, which represents junior mining firms, said they were able to take over mines that were not doing well.
“We all signed a deal last year. The last thing we can do is to put mines under care and maintenance,” he said, referring to the decision by companies to put the brakes on operations until prices recovered.
BUSINESS REPORT