AngloGold job cuts add to mining’s woes
The producer is set to shed 2,000 posts, with fewer than 116,000 people still employed in gold mines
Job losses in SA’s mining sector continue unabated, with AngloGold Ashanti set to cut 2,000 jobs to shrink its support structure after selling and closing mines in the country. SA’s gold and platinum mines are shedding thousands of jobs because of the age, depth and costs of running them, combined with relatively low prices for the metals. From the 380,000 people working on SA’s gold mines in 1995, the figure has dropped below 116,000. From being the world’s largest gold producer for decades, SA has quickly slipped into eighth place, with output of 140 tonnes in 2017. Employment on platinum mines has dropped to less than 170,000 from a peak of 200,000 a decade ago. Pan African Resources said recently it was shutting its Evander gold mine and cutting 1,700 jobs because of an unsustainably low rand gold price. Lonmin, the world’s third-largest platinum miner, has started a three-year process to shed 12,600 jobs. Sibanye-Stillwater stopped its four unprofitable Cooke gold shafts near J...
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