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Nick Holland, CEO of Gold Fields, writes for Business Day that the gold producer’s plan to potentially cut up to almost 1,600 jobs at its struggling South Deep mine is a “last-gasp measure”.
The company made the announcement on Tuesday, citing mounting losses and a “consistent failure to meet mining and production targets” among the reasons for the move that could see a third of the labour force trimmed. According to Holland: “The choice is between this and serious risk to the future of South Deep and its many shareholders.” He also writes that: “Every effort has been made to avoid these significant measures, including retrenching 25% of managerial employees late in 2017; approving voluntary retrenchments for employees in the lower A, B, and C bands over the past few years; bringing in Australian and Canadian experts to assist with new mining methodology and training of current operators; and implementing various other restructuring initiatives.” The mine west of Johannesburg employs around 3,600 full-time workers and 1,900 contractors. In Tuesday’s announcement, the company said 1,100 permanent employees and 460 contractors could “potentially be impacted by the proposed restructuring”.
- Read Nick Holland’s article in full at BusinessLive
- Read too, Mining, and the country, staring into the abyss, at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page