Bokoni retrenches 2 600

ATOK – Bokoni Platinum Mine in Limpopo has announced that it will retrench more than 2 600 employees and place the mine under a two-year care and maintenance programme, from September.The company said the mine, owned jointly by Atlatsa Resources (51 per cent) and Anglo American Platinum (49 per cent), has no option but to lay off employees due to extreme financial losses.In a statement, Atlatsa said notwithstanding various attempts since 2014 to restructure Bokoni Mine through shaft closures and other measures in order to achieve profitability, the mine’s operations remain cash negative after capital expenditure.The mine incurred negative cash flow of approximately R500 million for the first six months of 2017.The miners were handed notices of retrenchments by the management last week.According to the mine’s spokesman, Joe Kessler, the mine was not completely shutting down.”We had no option as we have recorded a R500 million loss in the past six months. We will keep our infrastructure and ensure our machines are safe and under maintenance. When things change for the better we can continue where we left off,” Kessler said.In recent months Atlatsa and Anglo American Platinum, together with mine management, have investigated a range of further re-configuration options.The immediate to medium-term outlook for Bokoni remains negative, given the current weak platinum group metals (PGM) pricing environment, which is expected to remain under pressure for the foreseeable future, the mine said in a statement.Anglo American Platinum has agreed to fund, via a loan account to Bokoni Mine, all once-off costs associated with placing the mine on care and maintenance, as well as ongoing care and maintenance costs, up until December 31, 2019.Speaking to the Steelburger/Lydenburg News, the National Union of Mineworkers’ (NUM) Phillip Mankge said the company was not doing enough to avoid the retrenchments.”We call on Bokoni to return the mining licence to the Department of Mineral Resources so that interested companies can take over.”This company does not have the interest of workers and surrounding communities at heart. It only cares about profit,” he said. Mankge said the mine claimed that it lost R500 million, but NUM does not believe this. Mankge accused Bokoni’s management of not communicating with the workers.”We are the stakeholders here, not by mistake. We feel we were supposed to have been consulted. The company should come on board and have meaningful talks with us so that we can come up with other methods to remedy this situation.” The future looks bleak for the surrounding communities of Tjibeng, Ga Nkoana,Ga Selepe and other villages in Atok. Many community members rely on the mine for a living.

Villagers reiterated that the job losses will sink the Atok area into deep poverty.”I am the breadwinner for my family and support relatives with the salary that I get. I just don’t know how we will survive when we get retrenched,” said Gift Makola, a miner at Bokoni.The communities pleaded with the mine to review its decision. They highlighted that Bokoni was the only economic injection for the surrounding communities.