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Bloomberg writes that as platinum prices have fallen and industry costs have risen over the past decade, dividends paid to local community trusts have dried up and many pledges to improve living conditions have gone unfulfilled.
Frustration is now bubbling over in SA mining communities, which typically include a mix of mineworkers, job-seeking migrants and rural populations who have been living there since before mining started. Demonstrations by residents around mines have disrupted operations run by producers including Impala Platinum, Lonmin and African Rainbow Minerals. The protesters have demanded jobs and money, saying that investments outside of the mines have not been enough. “The mines don’t appreciate how upset people are,” said Vladimir Mogale, a spokesman for the Bapo Ba Mogale community, which lives close to Lonmin’s Marikana mine. “People feel like they have to burn a bus to get a response,” he said, while condemning any violence. The Chamber of Mines of SA accepts that companies need to do more to involve black people in the economy. But, more than half of the sector’s production is losing money, according to Anglo American Platinum. “Without growth how do you bring people further into the economic stream?” asked the Chamber’s newly-elected president Mxolisi Mgojo.
- Read this report by Kevin Crowley in full at Moneyweb
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