JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The strike by members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) at Southern African diamond development and exploration company DiamondCorp’s Lace mine, in the Free State, continues.
AMCU members downed tools at the mine on October 23, in protest over DiamondCorp’s refusal to employ two full-time salaried shop stewards. The diamond miner pointed out, however, that AMCU already had five appointed shop stewards at Lace.
Meetings between management and AMCU officials to resolve the matter were held last week, but did not lead to an agreement.
In the meantime, tunnelling in the UK4 block and the processing of kimberlite ore with non-AMCU members was continuing, but mining of the upper leg of the decline had been temporarily suspended so the development of the UK4 block could continue close to schedule.
“For each two weeks that the strike continues, it is estimated that overall progress is delayed by one week. Significant productivity gains continue to be achieved with the non-AMCU members that are working and certain workplace practices will be addressed when the striking workers return,” DiamondCorp stated.
Installation of the underground conveyor belt was unaffected by the strike action; however, the final commissioning of the conveyor would be dependent on development schedules.
DiamondCorp noted that the start of mining of the UK4 block was still on schedule for the end of the first half of 2015.