Production at Sibanye’s Cooke Operations to resume following conclusion of unprotected strike and successful action against illegal mining
The unprotected strike ensued after a prohibition on food being taken underground, which had been agreed with the majority union, was implemented.
Receive up-to-date information about the company directly via push notification
Westonaria, 30 June 2017 - https://www.commodity-tv.net/c/search_adv/?v=297484: Sibanye’s Cooke Operations will resume production on Monday, 3 July, following an unprotected strike which started on 6 June 2017. The unprotected strike ensued after a prohibition on food being taken underground, which had been agreed with the majority union, was implemented.
The ban on food being taken underground by employees, was aimed at preventing food from being provided to illegal miners by employees, following signs of collusion. Year to date, 77 employees have been arrested for assisting illegal miners. Since the strike began, thus indirectly preventing food being taken underground, 472 illegal miners have surfaced from underground and have been arrested.
Following a Court interdict obtained by the company on 8 June 2017, disciplinary measures were taken against striking employees. The employees were provided the opportunity to appeal, a process presided over by an independent chairperson. The outcome of the appeal resulted in the dismissal of 99 employees’ being uphold, 407 employees are placed on final warnings and forfeiting their salaries and a further 869 forfeiting annual leave, in order to compensate for non-productive shifts.
Approximately 300 kilograms of planned gold production, equivalent to about R160 million in revenue, was lost at the Cooke Operations during the strike.
“The arrest of 472 illegal miners at the Cooke Operations, which are not dormant, but active, operating mines, indicates the extent of the illegal mining activities and the risks that this growing criminal activity poses to our operations, employees and communities. These operations have failed to meet production targets for some time, with illegal mining and employee collusion likely to have played a meaningful role in this underperformance. The Cooke Operations have been incurring financial losses and have been under strategic review for some time. The additional losses incurred, due to this strike, further impact on the economic viability of these operations”, commented Wayne Robinson, CEO of Sibanye’s Gold Division.
ENDS
Contact:
James Wellsted
SVP Investor Relations
+27 (0) 83 453 4014
[email protected]
In Europe:
Swiss Resource Capital AG
Jochen Staiger
[email protected] - www.resource-capital.ch
Sponsor: J.P. Morgan Equities South Africa Proprietary Limited
Forward-looking Statements
This announcement includes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbour” provisions of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of words such as “target”, “will”, “forecast”, “expect”, “potential”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “can” and other similar expressions that predict or indicate future events or trends or that are not statements of historical matters. In this announcement, for example, statements related to expected timings of the Rights Offer, are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements set out in this announcement involve a number of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, many of which are difficult to predict and generally beyond the control of Sibanye, that could cause Sibanye’s actual results and outcomes to be materially different from historical results or from any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this presentation. Sibanye undertakes no obligation to update publicly or release any revisions to these forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date of this presentation or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events, save as required by applicable law.