Miningmx reports that Sibanye-Stillwater has completed a restructuring process at its Cooke gold and uranium shafts on the West Rand, cutting a total of 6,976 from its workforce including 1,350 employees who took voluntary separation packages.  

However, the group has decided to keep operations at Beatrix West in the Free State open for as long as they remain profitable.  In effect, that has given 1,640 employees a temporary stay from retrenchment.  But James Wellsted, head of corporate affairs, said this decision came with important conditions.  “The mine will stay open for as long as it is profitable and we are spending almost no capital expenditure on the operation,” he indicated.  The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) criticised the company on Tuesday, saying that the firm had decided to pump R20bn into offshore operations (Editorial note: It is actually R31bn) instead of investing in local operations.  The Cooke surface processing plant will continue to operate for as long as there is sufficient feed material for it to be profitable.

• Read this report by David McKay in full at Miningmx
• Read too, Mining industry continues to bleed jobs, at Business Report

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