Hwange colliery seeks to cut workforce by half
HARARE – Hwange Colliery Company Limited (HCCL) plans to reduce its workforce by as much as half and will restart underground operations in the third quarter as the Zimbabwean miner seeks to reduce costs and return to profitability.
HCCL began a voluntary severance program in March and about 200 staff have already taken the option, MD Thomas Makore said in an interview Tuesday. The company, which employs 2 400 people, probably needs to slim down to about 1 200 to 1 400 to produce competitively, he said.
The miner is in talks with potential customers for offtake agreements from underground operations, which are expected to resume by the end of September and will boost production of more valuable coking coal, Makore said. Production from the open-pit operations has rebounded after heavy rains in the first quarter slowed activity, he said.
Output rose to 170 000 metric tons in May from 52 000 t in April and is expected to top 200 000 t this month.
HCCL hasn’t reported an annual profit since 2012, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and said in March it faced significant liquidity problems last year that constrained output, as it struggled to find money for spare parts and other production needs. Creditors last month approved a plan to convert its short-term debts to medium and long-term borrowings.
Zimbabwe’s government owns 43% of the coal miner – 37% directly and 6% through the state-owned pension fund, while 26% is owned by businessman Nicholas Van Hoogstraten, Makore said.
HCCL reported a loss of $89.9-million in the 12 months through December, compared with a $115.1-million loss a year earlier.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation