JOHANNESBURG - A higher level of security was needed at Impala Platinum's strike-hit operations in Rustenburg to halt returning workers from being intimidated, Implats corporate relations executive Bob Gilmour said on Thursday.
Implats share price fell 3.66% to R158 a share prior to the JSE's close, despite the company reporting a headline earnings rise of 67.8% to R3.47 billion within the six months to December 31.
With no end in sight on the month-long strike, Gilmour told Mining Weekly Online in the video interview that the current a higher level security was insufficiently strong to allow for a critical mass of workers to resume operations.
"If this have been a normal strike over the wage issue, it might have been solved long ago," said Gilmour.
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"The undeniable fact that it has been happening for 4 weeks and the intimidation level increases once we try to rehire, does indicate there could be something more important in the background being played out here," he added.
Issues were being taken to the fore that had been not strike-related, with only 6 000 workers rehired away from 17 000 dismissed.
"This moved beyond a strike. We've had reached stop this intimidation and present people to be able to apply for their jobs as well as go back to work," Gilmour said.
Implats marketing executive Derek Engelbrecht forecast that noticeably lower South African production would feed into stronger demand and drive this market into a deficit of 330 000 oz, how big is which would come as a surprise to several.
Assuming the current investor trends continue, significantly higher expected demand would completely overshadow lower supplies, leaving this market with a substantial deficit during a period of years, he added. belt conveyor crusher system
Outgoing Implats CEO David Brown, who has been delivering his last set of results after 14 years together with the company, said the important thing issue of the current labour unrest that was confronting the business had been the emergence of the Association of Mine Workers and Construction Union (AMCU) as a rival for the long-established National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
He explained NUM's rejection from the rock drill operators (RDOs) and NUM's inability to communicate with its members had worsened the specific situation.
The impact with the strike had triggered a loss of 60 000 oz of platinum, equating to R1.2-billion in revenue.
Because it was operating within a covert fashion, this company was struggling to hold discussions with AMCU as it was not the legal representative of the workers and the company stood a legal along with a moral obligation to keep to negotiate throughout the NUM to find a solution.
Brown condemned the top levels of intimidation and said the company needed to ensure that there was a sufficient police presence in your community to break periodic intimidation.
Most people involved in the civil disorder that have broken in the area weren't the company's employees.
"This has spread on the local informal settlements and other villages across the mine area," he said.
The 50% salary increase the RDOs were informally demanding along with the flow-through of that to your entire workforce would cost the company an extra R2-billion per year and probably bring about significant job losses. rock crusher SA
Implats was also applying to the Zimbabwe government for any review of Zimbabwe's new mine surface renting that have been gazetted, which translated in to a cost of $48.5-million for Implats' Zimplats operation compared with the current $45 000 a year.
If these fees were implemented as gazetted, it could cost the Zimbabwe mining industry in its entirety some $1-billion a year, which was similar to its entire revenue.
PLATINUM MARKET
Implats reported furthermore that the few months to December 31 saw a reversal of global economic conditions driven primarily with the worsening eurozone crisis.
The weakening South African currency had, however, ameliorated the downward pressure that this had exerted on prices, resulting in gross margins staying above 30%.
Implats' major projects, the development of three new shafts at Rustenburg plus the Phase 2 expansion at Zimplats, was ongoing, as were discussions while using Zimbabwe government on indigenisation.
The six fatalities that Implats suffered in the half year all occurred at Impala Rustenburg, with three a result of falls of ground, two on account of equipment handling incidents and something the result of an explosives incident.
The company's lost-time injury frequency rate worsened 18.4% to five.85 injuries for any million working hours, Marula deteriorating by 27.9% to 11.75.
In comparison, Zimplats improved by 70.7% to some record of 0.22.
Platinum prices, which briefly touched an increased of $1 900/oz in August, was a victim of a flight of capital into the US dollar and gold, causing a $400/oz drop in September alone. Prices ended 4 seasons at around $1 400, having tested the mid $1 300`s at the end of December, and averaged $1 720 with the year.
An interim cash dividend of 135c a share may be declared to the half year.
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