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Lonmin says strike costing 3,400 platinum oz a day
Allan Seccombe
Posted: Tue, 21 Aug 2007
[miningmx.com] -- LONMIN Platinum, the world's third-largest producer of the metal, is losing production of 3,400 oz a day after more than 20,000 workers downed tools at its Marikana operation over a dispute about the company's payment system.
The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) called the strike on Sunday night after a year-long interaction with the company over a payment system that has seen some workers not receiving a salary at the end of some months while others have been paid bonuses to which the union felt they were not entitled, said NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka.
"All our members are on strike and the rest of the workforce is not available. Basically the operations have come to a halt," Seshoka said. The union reckons 26,000 workers have downed tools.
Of the company's 24,000-strong workforce, some 22,000 are based at the Marikana operations.
"The
impact on our production and sales for the full year to 30 September
2007 and 2008 will be reviewed once this dispute is resolved. The loss of
one day`s production from Marikana equates to around 3,400 platinum ounces," Lonmin said in a statement.
Asked if operations had stopped at Marikana, company spokeswoman Alex Shoreland-Ball said: "Yes. Basically."
Lonmin was granted a court order forbidding workers to embark on the strike pending further court hearings into the matter in early September, either the 3rd or 5th of the month.
The court ruling would effectively overrule the certificate to strike granted by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), Shoreland-Ball said.
The NUM approached CCMA, which gave the union a certificate of non-resolution, allowing workers to embark on a protected strike, said Seshoka.
"We got a court order on Friday against the strike. It's an unprotected strike," said Shoreland-Ball. "We challenged the CCMA certificate in court and it issued an order that they should not strike until the matter is further heard."
Lonmin confirmed the dispute revolved around the SAP payroll system implemented across the group's operations.
"Lonmin is committed to resolving issues with NUM that have negatively impacted employees as a result of
the implementation and regrets the local branches` decision to engage in this unprotected activity," it said.
There are no immediate plans from the union's side to resume talks with management, said Seshoka, but Shoreland-Ball said talks had been ongoing over the past weekend and early this week including the national leaders of the NUM.
"We are confident that those conversations will allow us to resolve this in the next few days," she said.
Lonmin's platinum sales for the first nine months of its financial year were 477,639 ounces and 897,661 oz of total platinum group metals.
A loss of key managers, decreasing grades, reduced recoveries at its plants forced Lonmin to revise its full-year platinum sales expectations to between 820,000 and 840,000 ounces, a big fall from its previous forecast of up to a million ounces.
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