On-The-Air (06/06/2014)

6th June 2014

By: Martin Creamer

Creamer Media Editor

  

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Every Friday morning, SAfm’s AMLive’s radio anchor Sakina Kamwendo speaks to Martin Creamer, publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly.  Reported here is this Friday’s At the Coalface transcript:

Kamwendo: I want to start with my favourite story, as you know, the one of the R5-billion worth of unpaid employee benefits. What is the latest?

Creamer: Now, 25 000 people have come forward, it was 10 000 in the first month, 15 000 in the second month and they have come forward for unclaimed benefits. These are pension fund, provident fund and long service benefits. R5-billion is out there and the scope of getting to the people has now expanded because the first radio broadcast inviting them to come forward was concentrated in the Eastern Cape. Now, it has gone to Limpopo, KwaZuluNatal, North West and even to the neighbouring States of Mozambique, Botswana and Swaziland. The expectation is that they will dent this big backlog, but it is still taking a long time, because, as we stand, only 100 people have actually been paid out the benefits, because that is how long it takes. All the paper work the administrative burden and effort there that have been made. They are convinced that at least by the end of the year we will be seeing something more meaningful. Also, on silicosis sufferers now, there are 35 000 of those applications being processed and those people can be paid up to R150 000 each.

Kamwendo: We hope more and more people claim those benefits.

A brand new platinum mine that will be highly mechanised and pay high salaries is planned in Limpopo.

Creamer: The licence has been given now this month by the government to Ivanhoe. So, Ivanhoe listed in Canada, is very enthusiastic about this new mine that it is going to set-up. It will be highly mechanised and it will, they say, pay high salaries and it won’t kill anybody. It will be a new paradigm. It is in Limpopo in a very rich part of the platinum-belt, the Platreef. They are convinced that their workers will be more like surgeons in an operating theatre. They will highly trained. They have already gone into the community and 26% of the ownership of this Platreef development will be broad-based. They are talking about expanding thousands of people that will be actual equity holders. They are also very convinced that they can do added value, so they want to beneficiate. They are ticking all the boxes saying that they could have a silicon-valley type atmosphere here where they also work the platinum into the added value with the local community. They are prepared to do a lot there, because they say that this mine is going to go on for another 100 years. They say that we will be dead and buried when this mine is still carrying on. Their initial mining licence is for 30-years but they can roll that over in 30-year tranches going on with an infinite horizon. That is Ivanhoe, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, also keen now, because of the licence to list in Johannesburg.

Kamwendo: Any indication of the size of that operation, how many people will it be likely to employ and that sort of thing?

Creamer: Direct and indirectly going to be 10 000 people. It is going to be more capital intensive then labour intensive, but that is why they are creating these spin-offs, because they feel that they should try and do as much as they can with the platinum in that Limpopo area. It is close, of course, to Mogalakwena, which is owned by Anglo American Platinum, which is a very rich mine.

Kamwendo: How soon are they looking at this?

Creamer: They would like to do it yesterday, but they have been waiting for their licence. They have been exploring there for 16 years. It is like a quiet submarine in the waters and they really feel that they can get going, because it is not only platinum, but nickel, copper and a lot of credits.

Kamwendo:  I hope it comes to fruition, because it is something that our country, people and the economy can really use at this point.

Royal Bafokeng Platinum is building 3 000 houses for its mineworkers.

Creamer: Now, this is music to the ears. Houses for mineworkers, because we know that means we are starting to get rid of that curse of migrant labour, which has been such a problem and we can see in the platinum belt now is coming back to haunt us. We have a tight group of people which is actually controlling 80 000 people and it is the way people have been living there, away from their families, it creates such a bad atmosphere. Coming along now Royal Bafokeng Platinum with R2,8-billion approved in principle by their board for 3 000 plus houses for their mining workers, which means families will be close to the operations and make a complete difference. This is obviously not the only company doing this, we know that Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum in which the Bafokeng community has the controlling interest plus Lonmin are looking very carefully at housing, increasing the housing to make sure that we can have a more stable workforce. We can see the huge consequences here of this prolonged strike on the platinum belt of actually hurting South Africa.

Kamwendo: Many of us wonder about the Mining Charter and companies compliance about this charter.

Creamer: The auditing is underway. By the end of the year those audits will have been done. This is the deadline year, so this is when the boxes will have to be ticked and when you speak to a lot of mining companies, some of them have gone beyond what they are supposed to do. Others are pretty close to matching the charter requirements on the housing front, procurement front and all the other aspects of training and education that are contained in that very valuable Mining Charter.

Kamwendo: Thanks very much. Martin Creamer is publishing editor of Engineering News and Mining Weekly, he’ll be back with us at the same time next week.

 

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

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