[miningmx.com] – KUMBA Iron Ore (Kumba), the 69.7%-owned listed
unit of Anglo American, said that production at its 41-million tonne per year (Mtpa)
Sishen mine in the Northern Cape had ground to a halt following the start of a strike
yesterday (October 3) involving 300 employees.
“It’s a precautionary measure. The safety of our employees is the most important
thing,’ said Gert Schoeman, a spokesperson for Kumba. The Sishen mine employs
12,700 people.
“The mine has obtained a court order declaring the strike illegal. Efforts to try to
engage the strikers are continuing and the company is supplying them with food and
water,’ said Kumba in an announcement to the JSE.
Clients would be supplied from stockpiles at the Sishen mine and at Saldanha Bay.
“Kumba has sufficient production from its other mines and stockpiles of finished
product to continue supplying its customers for some time and is in constant contact
with its stakeholders to update them on developments,’ it said.
The newly inaugurated R8.5bn Kolomela mine, which produced 3.3Mt in the first half
of Kumba’s financial year, was still in production.
About 20% of Sishen’s production is supplied to the domestic market and the balance
is exported.
Shares in Kumba, which fell 5.7% yesterday after announcement that some workers
were on strike, were relatively unchanged today.
Said Kumba: “In the absence of a formal engagement process their [labour] demands
are still not clear. The strike is being handled in line with the company’s labour
relations procedure, with due consideration to the safety of the majority of those
workers who are not taking part in the illegal action and who wish to return to work’.
Despite paying a dividend in August 2011 totaling R2.5bn to some 5,000 employees,
Kumba has not been without its industrial disputes.
In the same year, the National Union of Mineworkers declared a dispute with Sishen
Iron Ore Company, the legal entity which houses the Sishen, Kolomela and
Thabazimbi mines, over failure to meet a housing clause in the 2010-2012 wage
agreement. A total of 8,000 workers are employed at all three mines.
