While some miners have returned to the surface at Impala Platinum’s (Implats) Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum Mine, more than 2,000 employees remain underground as part of an unprotected strike.
The illegal strike began on Monday morning without approval from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the representative union at the mine.
The platinum miner, valued at about R77.7bn on the JSE, said in a statement on Tuesday evening that 167 employees had returned to the surface by 7pm, but 2,038 are still underground at the mine, located about 25km northwest of Rustenburg and part of the Impala Bafokeng operations.
“Support measures for concerned family members and friends have been introduced. The exits for both North and South shafts remain open and accessible, and assistance is available to employees electing to exit the shafts when they are ready to do so,” Implats said.
According to Implats, the strike relates to “several misinterpretations and misunderstandings” when Implats became the new owner of the mine after battling it out with Northam Platinum earlier this year to take over Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat).
According to Implats, some striking miners believe that accumulated pension fund balances can be paid out to employees, statutory taxation provisions should not apply to award and/or bonus payments, and “concerns pertaining to the historical employee profit share arrangement being converted, at the election of employees, into an employee share ownership trust”.
Implats reiterated what it said on Monday that these illegal protests pose a risk to the financial sustainability of the mining industry.
“The illegal underground protest is not just endangering lives, but livelihoods. Given prevailing low platinum group metal (PGM) prices, the financial sustainability of the broader PGM industry is at risk,” it said on Tuesday.
The occurrence of illegal underground protests and “copycat illegal actions” at mining operations in SA, said Implats, have become more prevalent in recent months and are a cause for concern for the broader mining industry.
Earlier in December, about 440 mineworkers were allegedly held hostage and assaulted during an illegal underground protest at Gold One mine in Springs on the East Rand in Gauteng.
Criminal and internal disciplinary investigations are under way following the Gold One protest, which took place less than two months after about 560 miners were allegedly held hostage at the same mine.
Earlier in December, Implats suffered a tragic accident at its Impala Rustenburg 11 shaft — which accounts for 15% of annual production — when 13 employees lost their lives after a conveyance system failure.
Implats previously said the shaft where this accident occurred will be out of action for the foreseeable future.
With Denene Erasmus
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