SIBANYE-Stillwater (Sibanye) has completed a consultation process at its Marikana (formerly Lonmin) operation ahead of restructuring the mine in which it would save about 329 jobs of the 5,270 jobs it estimated would be lost in September last year.
That follows a decision to keep Shaft 1B – a specific section of the East 1 shaft – in operation with “… a specific sweeping and vamping project with limited mining, sweeping and reclamation” going until the end of December 2020 “… provided that the projects continue to be profitable on a three month average period”.
The company announced today that about 1,612 employees were granted voluntary separation packages while 1,142 were retrenched and contractors were reduced by about 1,709. In addition, 53 employees went on normal retirement and natural attrition accounted for 259 employees.
Between 2017 and September 2019, the workforce at Lonmin had already been cut by about 5,944 employees and contractors from 32,512 to 26,568.
Sibanye said in September that operations at the East 1, West 1 and Hossy shafts along with the open cast operations would shut down because they were loss-making and had “reached the end of their economic reserve lives”.
“We are pleased with the outcome of the consultations with stakeholders which, despite the necessary closure of some end-of-life shafts, resulted in preservation of a number of jobs,” said Sibanye-Stillwater CEO, Neal Froneman, in a statement.
“This will result in a more sustainable business which will secure employment for the majority of the Marikana workfoce for a much longer period,” he said.
