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On-The-Air (30/01/2015)

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30th January 2015

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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Every Friday morning, SAfm’s AMLive’s radio anchor Sakina Kamwendo speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly.  Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Kamwendo: Three of South Africa’s biggest gold mining companies are in job-saving talks with their workers.

Creamer: Jobs are at risk all over and we know that the big three are talking now, that is AngloGold Ashanti, which is talking about plans to sort of consolidate seven of its operations into three. So they have put out this Section 189 notice and it is in talks now to try and save as many jobs these as it can. Obviously the risk to jobs is huge.

Then we also have Harmony putting out a Section 189 for the Kusasulethu mine that is loss-making. They are hoping that they can do a different plan there to ensure that they reverse those losses. Sibanye also losing at Cooke Four shaft in Randfontein. So again, with a Section 189 notice and talking to try and save the jobs, but with jobs at risk, which has prompted Frans Baleni, the general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers, to start calculating the potential here.

He puts a huge figure of about 11 000 to 12 000 jobs that are at stake. At the moment, of course, Balani is saying that they are going to try and mitigate it and he is saying that there could be a jobs bloodbath. Even before the gold mining wage talks begin next month and ahead of this, they are having this situation with Section 189 talks right across the industry. We know that in the past unions have given way, like in 1999 and 2001, they went 4% below inflation to try and assist when the gold price was down.

The mood in the camp is so different now following that platinum strike. Many of the gold mining workers are saying does it pay to go on strike, look what they ended up with not calculating the five months of lost pay, they are saying that perhaps they should be firmer and there are some hysterical numbers being put out. We had that R12 500 mantra in the platinum strike. I hate to give the new figure but it is way above that, being put out for gold workers.

Kamwendo: Consideration is being given to closing parts of Optimum Coal, which has put 1 070 jobs at risk.

Creamer: Optimum Coal is now owned by Glencore, which is listed in London, Hong Kong and Johannesburg. They put out a notice saying that they are going to go through a review but the continual financial hardship that they are finding at Optimum Coal is deteriorating because of market conditions deteriorating.

They have been in a loss situation there and now the export price is beginning to disappoint even further. The coal export price battling to come through the $70 a ton level and people saying that they have to now look at cutting down on the opencast operation at Optimum Coal plus closing parts of it process plant. They promised that they will continue to supply coal to Hendriena Power Station, which is very important, because this mine supplies both the export market and the domestic Eskom market.

It would be a tragedy if you didn't have that supply going through to Eskom, which is of national importance. They have said that they will do their best to keep their underground mines going to continue to supply Hendriena. Certain other parts need to be reviewed and need to be closed because of the ongoing financial hardship and deteriorating market conditions.

Kamwendo: A global study just released shows that mining boosts the economies of the world’s poorest regions.

Creamer: The International Council on Mining and Metals (ICMM) has put out an intensive study, they did one in 2012 as well, and now they have come out with a second one, which indicates really that mining boosts the economy of the poorest countries in the word. Of the top 70 mining countries, 90% of them are low-income countries. This is where mines are expanding most.

We know sitting here in Joburg we began 120 years ago with mining and it has developed into this sustainable development, which we have. There is a potential to do so much of that and that is what the ICMM is saying that it is essential to do it and it must be done so that we don't look to mines themselves being sustainable, but to mines creating sustainable development.

Kamwendo: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly, he’ll be back with us at the same time next week.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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