This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.
City Press reports that illegal miners have been looting gold from Mpumalanga’s mothballed Lily Mine, but police are on their tracks. Mpumalanga police arrested two suspected illegal miners when they embarked on a clean-out operation last weekend. One illegal miner was shot dead.
Lily Mine and its sister mine Barbrook have been under business rescue since 2016 when they were shut down after a shaft at Lily Mine collapsed, burying three workers underground. The mine is now under new majority shareholders after the Sikhula Sonke Empowerment Corporation (SSC) Group secured a R190m loan from the Industrial Development Corporation and bought a 74% stake in Vantage Goldfields SA. Although the Barbrook creditors committee is trying to get the mine liquidated, SSC has been laying the ground to reopen the mine. SSC CEO Fred Arendse said the infiltration by illegal miners was worrying, “but this is a challenge facing all the neighbouring mines in the Barberton area. We’re working closely with the police.” Business rescue practitioner Rob Devereux maintained that illegal miners were not operating where mining was going to take place and that the mine’s assets were safe. Meanwhile, the mineral resources department has completed its inquiry into the Lily Mine accident, but its report has not been released. Lawyers representing the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) argued that Lily Mine’s management could have avoided the accident if they had not ignored a rock mechanic’s advice.
- Read this City Press report by Sizwe Sama Yende in full at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page