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Business Times reports that last week’s announcement that Gold Fields would be restructuring its South Deep operation has led to the government and investors alike baying for blood and the obvious target is CEO of 10 years, Nick Holland.
The restructuring of South Deep, into which Gold Fields has sunk about R32bn, will entail as many as 1,560 jobs being lost to stop the mine from bleeding about R100m a month. Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe has called for Holland to step down, but Holland has reportedly indicated he would not resign. "Any time a company loses R32bn heads should roll," said Peter Major of Cadiz Corporate Solutions. The unique structure of the ore body at South Deep, it has long been thought, made it ideal for mechanisation. However, so far Gold Fields has failed to make a success of it. Holland has blamed high turnover of senior management at the mine. Major agreed, but said the CEO was to blame for that. "Nick had so many teams in there ... I lost track. He's the one constant. Heads do need to roll, you can't just keep funding this thing year after year," he commented. Analyst at Noah Capital, Rene Hochreiter, said it was hard to see the operation making a profit anytime soon.
- Read more of this report by Lisa Steyn at SA Labour News
- Read too, Gold Fields remains in ‘strong’ financial position, despite $367m loss, says Holland, at Mining Weekly
- And also, Sword of Damocles hangs over South Deep miners’ heads, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page