Fin24 reports that some workers at Impala Platinum (Implats) have been called to return to work on Tuesday as the mining house seeks leave to restart some of its operations from Friday.
The company announced in March that it intended applying to continue with operations outside of the essential care and maintenance allowed during lockdown. The group, which at the time said it wanted permission to conduct "limited smelting operations", confirmed on Sunday that it had sent SMSes to some of its employees last week asking them to return to work. "This was done in consultation with our stakeholders and in line with all the statutory measures introduced by the government," said the group's Alice Lourens. She indicated that Implats continued to pay all its employees – those currently doing essential maintenance work and those at home – during the national coronavirus lockdown. “We are awaiting the announcement of these provisions [in the new lockdown regulations] and will shape our plans to restart the business accordingly in full support of the measure announced by the government to fight the spread of the virus. This may or may not include provisions to allow some mining activity to resume during this period," said Lourens in a written response.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Londiwe Buthelezi at Fin24
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