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BusinessLive writes that the true costs of the five-month strike at Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold mines was laid bare in its March quarter numbers, which also underlined the necessity of the restructuring of its gold assets that Sibanye was undertaking.
The company has warned that up to 6,670 people could be affected in the process, the results of which would be released in coming weeks. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) called a wage strike on 21 November 2018, and ended it a few days short of a five months on 17 April, settling for little more than three other unions had agreed to in November. But the damage done by bringing half the gold workforce out on strike was revealed in the first quarter’s numbers. Gold output (excluding that from the 38%-held DRDGold) fell by 63% compared with the same quarter a year earlier. The all-in sustaining costs for the quarter were an astonishing R1,002,350/kg compared with the R550,000/kg a year ago. The received gold price for the quarter was R588,040/kg. So the strike meant Sibanye was unable to realise the improved gold price, which averaged R507,719/kg a year ago. The worst-affected mine, the Beatrix operation in the Free State, noted an all-in sustaining costs of R1.105m/kg for the quarter as underground output fell dramatically. Sibanye noted, however, that its platinum group metals (PGMs) businesses in SA and the US had offset losses from the gold division.
- Read the full original of Allan Seccombe’s report in the above regard at BusinessLive
- See too, Sibanye-Stillwater ekes out pretax profit despite bruising strike-torn Q1, at Miningmx
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