Sibanye StillwaterMiningmx reports that precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater has received accreditation to dispense Covid-19 vaccines at its four medical facilities in SA.

The facilities are based at Marikana, in North West; Libanon and Driefontein, in Gauteng; and Beatrix, in the Free State. The miner said it hoped to immunise up to 330,000 people drawn from its employee complement, employee families, and “door step” communities against Covid-19. It also said it was ready to assist the government further with the wider roll-out of vaccines. “This is an extremely important process which we are thrilled to be commencing,” said CEO Neal Froneman. Sibanye-Stillwater said at its annual results announcement that it was prepared to spend R200m vaccinating employees and their families, although it’s likely the expenditure will be less than that estimate as the government had purchased vaccines. Healthcare schemes are also making contributions to the vaccination cost. “We can do about 18,000 vaccinations a day so that’s our workforce of 80,000 in about a week,” said company spokesman James Wellsted. A further 250,000 family and community members could also be reached, according to the company’s calculations. There was potential to go beyond this, Wellsted indicated.


Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page