JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – A series of labour disputes that have hit JSE-listed diversified miner Exxaro this week were likely to continue into next week, with several more operations set to be disrupted as workers were expected to down tools in sympathy and protest, National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) branch secretary Mxolisi Hoboyi said on Friday.

Workers at Exxaro’s Grootegeluk mine, in Limpopo, went on strike on Thursday, following workers at Exxaro’s Mpumalanga-based Matla and Arnot coal mines, who went on strike on Tuesday, on the back of the nonpayment of performance bonuses.

Exxaro confirmed the strikes at the three operations but commented in a statement that the reasons for the strike at the Grootegeluk mine involved a range of grievances, which differed from those at the heart of the Matla and Arnot labour unrest.

The group did not elaborate further.

Exxaro CEO Sipho Nkosi said the performance bonuses had been held back after the operations had failed to achieve their performance targets – a statement that was widely spread throughout the group.

Speaking to Mining Weekly Online, Hoboyi said the group made a net operating profit of R2.9-billion during the year ended 2012, indicating that targets had been met.

He also questioned Exxaro’s injection of capital into its Republic of Congo-based Mayoko iron-ore project, which “shouldn’t be undertaken at the expense of its workers", as well as "management’s excessive salaries”.

The diversified mining company planned to develop the iron-ore project, which reported an increase in reserves from 121-million tons to 685-million tons, in phases, to produce and export ten-million tons of iron-ore a year by 2016/7.

Hoboyi also warned that, by Monday, the unrest would have spread to the diversified JSE-listed resources group’s remaining operations, as employees protest in sympathy with their striking peers, as well as over the lack of, or underpayment of, performance bonuses.

The Grootegeluk employees at the operation were also protesting about an unresolved equalisation matter dating back years.

“… the group is engaging with unions and managing the situation to bring operations to normality as soon as possible,” Exxaro said.

The company reported that contingency had been employed to maintain supply to the respective coal-fired Eskom power stations under contract.

Arnot, which employed 1 100 employees and 300 contract employees, held no risk to the supply of coal. The Matla mine, with an employee base of 1 400, had 18 stock days of supply available, while the Matla power station had two stock days of supply on hand.

The 2 000-worker strong Grootegeluk operations had a 14-day stock supply available for the Matimba power station, while the power station itself had 33 days of supply stockpiled. The mine also had reasonable supplies of coal for its other domestic, and export, customers.

Other coal operations included Leeuwpan, 80 km south-east of Pretoria; New Clydesdale, in Mpumalanga; the North Block Complex operations, in Mpumalanga; and Tshikondeni, in Limpopo.