JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) members have ended a six-week protected strike at dual-listed DiamondCorp’s Lace diamond mine, in the Free State.
The employees downed tools at the mine on October 23 in dispute of management's refusal to employ two additional full-time salaried shop stewards. AMCU, the majority union at Lace, already had five appointed shop stewards in the mine’s workforce.
The Southern African diamond development and exploration company reported on Friday that the AMCU members had agreed to start work at 6:00 on Monday without the appointment of any additional full-time shop stewards.
DiamondCorp said in November that the start of mining of the UK4 block was still on schedule for the end of the first half of 2015; however, it noted on Friday that it would, in due course, provide an update on the impact of the industrial action on the Lace mine development and operational schedule going forward.
In late October, the company noted that year-to-date productivity on development tunnelling prior to the strike was 1.57 t a person for every shift with three crews, while productivity since the strike started was 2.87 t a person for every shift with one crew – an improvement of 87% a person.
DiamondCorp had estimated at the time that for every two weeks the strike continued, around one week would be added to the development timetable.
Full-scale mining at the Lace mine, near the town of Kroonstad, is expected to produce ore at a rate of 4 000 t/d.