Impala Platinum (Implats) said a year of disruptions and missed production targets meant it could be forced to lay off nearly a quarter of its 4,500-strong workforce at its Marula mine. At the heart of unrest at the operation is unhappiness in six communities that are part-owners of a chrome business set up by Implats to ensure that financial benefits flowed into the region. However, little of the money generated by the chrome company appears to have reached the broader community, with funds allegedly embezzled. This echoes stories around the country of empowerment transactions benefiting a few instead of broader communities, or communities fracturing amid a scramble for economic gain. Implats set up a chrome business to process Marula’s tailings after a decline in platinum group metal prices in 2013, which meant the communities’ 9% stake in the mine would not generate any meaningful cash flows for them. The stake in the mine was converted to half-ownership of the cash-generating ch...
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