JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Production at Sibanye’s Cooke operations, near Randfontein, will resume on July 3.

This followed nearly a month-long unprotected strike by workers after they were prohibited from taking food underground.

The ban on food being taken underground by employees was aimed at preventing food from being provided to illegal miners by employees, following signs of collusion. Sibanye on Friday said 77 employees have been arrested so far this year for assisting illegal miners.

Further, after the ban on taking food underground, 472 illegal miners have surfaced from underground and have been arrested.

“The arrest of 472 illegal miners at the Cooke operations, which are not dormant, but active, operating mines, indicates the extent of the illegal mining activities and the risks that this growing criminal activity poses to our operations, employees and communities.

“These operations have failed to meet production targets for some time, with illegal mining and employee collusion likely to have played a meaningful role in this underperformance,” commented Sibanye Gold division CEO Wayne Robinson.

Following the illegal strike, which started on June 6, 99 employees have been dismissed and 407 placed on final warnings, while 869 have forfeited their annual leave to compensate for nonproductive shifts.

About 300 kg of planned gold production, equivalent to about R160-million in revenue, was lost as a result of the strike.

“The Cooke operations have been incurring financial losses and have been under strategic review for some time. The additional losses incurred, due to this strike, further impact on the economic viability of these operations,” Robinson said.

Sibanye has set a target of clearing all illegal miners from its shafts by January 2018.

Earlier this week, Sibanye protection services senior VP Nash Lutchman told journalists that illegal mining cost South Africa about R20-billion a year in lost mineral sales, taxes and royalties. He added that illegal mining also contributes to higher security costs and more work stoppages.