Gold One could dismiss more than 500 after mine sit-in

10th January 2024

By: Bloomberg

  

Font size: - +

Gold One International could dismiss more than 500 workers at a South African mine after two incidents last year in which hundreds of employees stayed underground for days.

The Sydney-based gold miner will dismiss 401 workers at its Modder East operations and has suspended a further 140 whose disciplinary hearings will likely take place within the next week, Ziyaad Hassam, head of legal at Gold One, said by phone on Tuesday.

Underground sit-ins are becoming more prevalent as a means of protest at South African mines, with Impala Platinum Holdings and Wesizwe Platinum also reporting incidents in December.

Disputes over the recognition of labor unions at the mine east of Johannesburg led to workers staying below surface in October and December last year. Local media including Rapport newspaper reported some employees were assaulted and had been held under duress.

The National Union of Mineworkers will represent its members at Gold One when they appeal their dismissal on the grounds that they were forced to be part of the sit-in, national spokesman Livhuwani Mammburu said.

The union will meet with the mine’s management to discuss the matter further before taking any further steps.

“The majority of workers are quite shaken about this dismissal,” he said.

Edited by Bloomberg

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION