JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Limpopo-based Palabora Copper on Tuesday confirmed that operations at its copper mine, in Phalaborwa, had been halted since Friday night, as Ba-Phalaborwa community members embarked on violence and intimidation sparked by what the company claimed was propaganda.

Corporate affairs manager Hulisani Nemaxwi told Mining Weekly Online that the Palabora Mining Company subsidiary’s smelter, refinery and processing plant were currently idled after employees were prevented from reporting for duty through intimidation, placing the entire mine at risk of closure.

He explained that employee buses were stopped, contractors’ vehicles burnt and other municipal property vandalised as a series of tense municipal services protests over the past three weeks extended to Palabora and its activities.

Following a community forum meeting last week, the company stood accused of sidelining local community members and businesses for jobs and contracts, failing to inject appropriate funds into the local communities’ development and failing to secure a steel plant project for the province.

Palabora warned of the “significant ramifications” of the protests for the future of the company, not only hitting the schedule and execution of the R9.3-billion underground Lift II project, which would extend the life of the Palabora mine to 2033, but also possibly leading to the mine’s closure.

“This unfortunate development is happening at the most critical time in the mining industry and the economy,” the company said, noting that mining companies across South Africa were running at a loss, face headwinds and commodity price slumps and a downward economic decline.

However, Palabora had taken a hardline stance, stating that the ongoing protests, characterised by violence and intimidation, could not be negotiated out of, as none of the claims the community members were making, were accurate.

Nemaxwi explained that R160-million had been invested into various community development projects in the region, made up of five tribal communities and three townships, since 2010. Another R10-million was allocated for the 2015 financial year.

Between January and May 2015, in excess of R30-million had been spent on services from local black-owned companies in Palabora’s supplier development programme.

“As part of our commitment to localisation in the unskilled and semiskilled categories, we have created 325 jobs for Ba-Phalaborwa [community members] out of 600 available jobs [at the mine], between January and June,” he noted.

The contractors imported 208 specialised personnel from other communities beyond Phalaborwa, seeking the remainder of their workforce requirement within the local communities.

In January and February, Palabora embarked on a curriculum vitae (CV) drive, calling on locals to submit their CVs to their tribal offices and the various public areas around Ba-Phalaborwa.

Meanwhile, the community’s belief that Palabora was involved in the discussions about the location of a proposed steel plant was also untrue.

“This is an issue being discussed by the main shareholders of Palabora, which are Hebei Iron and Steel Group of China and the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa. We are not part of this engagement process,” he said.

There were four proposed locations for the steel plant, namely Phalaborwa, Richards Bay, Middelburg and Soweto; however, a feasibility study by the parties would determine the final location.

“As an organisation, we strongly condemn the intimidation of our people and the vandalism of properties and the spread of malicious information,” the company concluded.