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Eskom smokescreen for job cuts?
27/02/2008 14:51 - (SA)
Cape Town - It was unclear whether proposed job cuts in the mining industry were caused by power cuts and electricity rationing or other factors, Public Enterprises Minister Alec Erwin said in parliament on Wednesday.
"I've been a trade unionist for many years and you often use an event like this to explain something you're going to do anyway," he told parliament's public enterprises committee.
Erwin said the minister of minerals and energy would meet with the mines on Thursday to discuss the matter.
Gold Fields
Gold miner Gold Fields announced on Monday that Eskom's 10% reduction in power supply to mines could "potentially" affect 6 900 workers out of a total of 53 000 at all the company's SA mines.
According to a statement on the company's website most of these job cuts would affect 4 900 workers at the Driefontein and Kloof gold mines. Two shafts and a shaft extension at Drieftontein as well as two shafts at Kloof would be mothballed, closed or scaled back.
Said Erwin: "We would clearly like to accommodate the mining industry, which is why we are putting so much pressure on other sectors to save electricity."
Gold Fields confirmed that as a consequence of the 10% power reduction imposed by Eskom, sustainable production at its SA operations was likely to decline by between 15% and 20% from the June quarter onwards.
A local newspaper on Wednesday quoted AngloGold spokesperson Alan Fine as saying that the company had planned no job cuts as yet.
"(But) we can't guarantee anything," he told the newspaper. The company was managing but the situation was not sustainable.
DRDGold spokesperson James Duncan said no job cuts were expected.
"Obviously, were the power situation to deteriorate, we might have to reconsider our current business model," he was quoted as saying.
- Sapa
- SAPA
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