PRODUCTION PLUNGE
Sibanye may cut up to 6,670 jobs as labour, power costs bite
Gold and platinum miner Sibanye-Stillwater may cut as many as 6,670 jobs as rising labour and electricity costs and a flat gold price mean efforts to make five shafts profitable have failed. Sibanye, which has been hit by a three-month strike at its gold operations, said the restructuring was not directly related to the work stoppage by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu). The union downed tools on November 21 to demand a wage increase of R1,000 a month. The proposed job cuts, which Sibanye said it hoped to avoid through constructive engagement with stakeholders, would add to 7,000 job cuts it made in 2017, when it shut its unprofitable Cooke mines west of Johannesburg. Employment in SA’s gold sector dived to 112,000 in 2018, from nearly 400,000 jobs in 1994, as production plunged from 583 tons over the same period to 138 tons. The Minerals Council SA has warned that the country’s gold output could fall to just 20 tons and a single mine from the 21 held by l...
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