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Mine jobs meeting under way
28/02/2008 13:28 - (SA)
Sherilee Bridge
Johannesburg - The government, mining industry and trade unions are meeting on Thursday over the potential shedding of thousands of jobs due to the country's power restrictions.
According to Sapa, those attending the meeting are the Minister of Minerals and Energy, the Minister of Trade and Industry, the Chamber of Mines, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and state-owned power utility Eskom.
The meeting was expected to focus on the general impact the electricity cuts were having on mining, rather than the number of jobs that would be cut as a result of the scale-backs.
It comes days after SA's second-largest gold producer Gold
Fields (GFI) said 6 900 jobs were at risk as a result of the 10% reduction in electricity use by mining companies.
Power rationing
Eskom has asked all its large industrial clients, including mines and smelters, to cut energy consumption by 10% because of power shortages in the country.
It recently suggested that companies would have to live with 90% of their normal power usage until 2012 when it brings additional generation on stream.
Gold, platinum and ferrochrome miners have been hardest hit, with most advising that production forecasts for the year were unlikely to be met.
Gold Fields said a 10% power reduction would result in a 20% drop in production from its SA operations, while AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) said it could lose up to 400 000 ounces of production in 2008 and around 200 000 ounces every year thereafter.
While AngloGold Ashanti said it has no immediate plans to close shafts or cut its workforce, smaller rival Harmony Gold Mining said it had already invited employees to consider voluntary retrenchment packages in light of the power cutbacks.
The gold producer already retrenched 1 800 of its employees between September and December last year as part of its cost curtailment plans. The company had also already reduced the number of contractors at its mines by 2 000 to 5 000 people.
Fallout
Trade union Solidarity has estimated that SA's power crisis
could cost the country more than 15 000 workers but Efficient Group chief economist Dawie Roodt estimates that the number could be as high as 60 000 to 80 000.
Earlier this week ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe accused mining companies of using the energy crisis as an excuse for their administrative problems and on Wednesday, Public Enterprises Minister, Alec Erwin, told parliament that there was no link between the power crisis and job cuts.
He said it was unclear whether power cuts and electricity rationing or other factors caused the proposed job cuts in the mining industry.
"We would clearly like to accommodate the mining industry, that is why we are putting so much pressure on other sectors to save electricity," he was quoted by Sapa as saying.
The NUM has in the meantime warned that it would take to the streets if mineworkers lose their jobs due to the current power crisis.
It said mineworkers should not be forced to pay for a situation that was out of their hands.
- I-Net Bridge
- I-Net Bridge (Business)
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