The possible loss of up to 1,400 jobs at Pan African Resources’s Evander gold mine could just be the start of more to come, with the strength of the rand leaving a swathe of South African gold mines running at losses or thin profit margins. The Evander mine had all-in sustaining costs, which are the full costs of operating the mine and excludes any expansionary capital, of R673,444/kg by the end of December against an average received price for the six months to the end of 2017 of R551,506/kg. "The government is going to have a serious issue on its hands if this strong rand continues," said Pan African CEO Cobus Loots, calling for urgent talks with the Department of Mineral Resources, which is under the new leadership of former National Union of Mineworkers general secretary Gwede Mantashe, the ANC chairman. "We need to discuss this. There must be an awareness of where this strong rand is going to take us," he said. Pan African had already retrenched 628 employees and 147 contractor...
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