Tribunal gives nod to Sibanye Cooke 4 restructure

[miningmx.com] – SOUTH Africa’s Competition Tribunal had set aside an earlier order by the Competition Commission that the restructure of a gold asset by Sibanye Gold was in contravention of a takeover regulation.

Sibanye Gold said on November 13 that the proposed restructuring of the West Rand gold shaft, Cooke 4, had not received the approval of the competition, but added it planned to proceed with the restructuring anyway.

The commission argued that Sibanye had undertaken not to lay off jobs at the mine for a period of two years following completion of the takeover which was conducted by means of a merger of assets. Sibanye announced a decision to buy Cooke 1-4 shafts in August 2013, but only completed the deal in March 2014.

Sibanye said today it was pleased to report the Competition Tribunal had “… ordered that the Notice of Apparent Breach issued against Sibanye by the Competition Commission on 11 November 2014 be set aside”.

Sibanye said in February that it had completed the restructuring of Cooke 4 after reaching agreement with employees and organised labour.

“This ruling, in favour of Sibanye, supports its position that it had complied with its obligations regarding the acquisition of the Cooke assets and the conditions imposed by the Competition Tribunal,” said Sibanye Gold.

Sibanye CEO, Neal Froneman, said in February the company would increase the profitability of its Cooke 4 section by up to R50m following a restructuring in which job losses were kept to 430 out of a possible 1,776 that were first at risk.

The firm unveiled a range of measures including adopting a new work cycle, voluntary retrenchments and, interestingly, an agreement with the National Union of Mineworkers that Cooke 4 desist from strike action in the event of a pay dispute.

Froneman hailed the pact with workers and added that “.. the measures we agreed on have been implemented at the Cooke 4 mine”.