[miningmx.com] – MARK Cutifani, CEO of AngloGold Ashanti since 2007,
said he won’t replace Cynthia Carroll as CEO of Anglo American.
He flushed a bit when posed the question, looked down slightly, but added: “We knew
we’d get the question.’
Cutifani had earlier responded with a “no comment’ in the media call. “Have you
checked your diary?’ he said in response to the intrepid question. “This is an
AngloGold conference,’ he said to background laughter.
It’s just as well Cutifani’s staying. Leadership is in short supply in South Africa, a point
well made by Michael Spicer, vice president of Business Leadership who, speaking at
a junior mining conference in Johannesburg this week, observed that the UK listings of
BHP Billiton and his own Anglo American (where he was employed in 1999) proved a
disservice to South Africa. “We lost key players and the Chamber of Mines was
allowed to drift,’ he said.
In contrast, 2013 is building into a year of direction. Cutifani has described it a
“pivotal’ year, partly because he’s hoping to link productivity agreements to annual
wage negotiations that will begin around June. Given the fact Cutifani is the recently
appointed president of the Chamber of Mines, one can expect he will also be
influential in popularising the idea among other member companies as well.
It makes for a more intense round of wage negotiations in which the voice of labour
will also be more nuanced. In a sense, the past dominance of the National Union of
Mineworkers (NUM) made for a familiar if not a cosy relationship between employer
and employee. Although the NUM has driven a hard bargain for its members in the
past, the protagonists resemble a warring family: at loggerheads, but still family.
The introduction of the Associated Mineworkers & Construction Union (Amcu), an
entity about which the NUM still seems to be in denial, changes that condition. Cutifani
and his counterpart at Harmony Gold, Graham Briggs, are disposed towards the
development. After all, change is opportunity.
So what may be the consequence?
If Cutifani gets it right, a modest above-inflation wage increase will be negotiated in
return for a 15% productivity improvement. That’s his stated goal. He has some other
plans as well. For instance, Cutifani wants to move from a 270 to a 340 working day
per year. This would effectively see the re-introduction of continuous operations, or
Conops as it was once known in the industry.
However, AngloGold’s aim is not to make workers work longer, but to create a
structure for around-the-clock mining that would suit the eventual introduction of the
mine automation that AngloGold is currently trialling at Tau Tona, a mine west of
Johannesburg.
Automation is sometimes confused with mechanisation, a much-derided concept in
South African mining because it has failed so often. The difference of automation,
however, is that it involves no direct physical or mental engagement with the
technology at all.
Shorter term, Cutifani wants to get miners home semi-annually or quarterly, instead
of annually. One of the few positives to come out of the Marikana tragedy is a review
of the migrant system. Responding to questions in the National Assembly this week,
deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe called for workers to be allowed home more
often and for miners to provide safe transport.
You can see the sociological benefit, but as is often the norm in our mining sector, it’s
also complicated as many migrant miners maintain two familes: one close to work,
and one at home.
