{"id":639733,"date":"2022-11-01T13:04:58","date_gmt":"2022-11-01T11:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=639733"},"modified":"2022-11-01T13:05:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-01T11:05:15","slug":"huge-job-cuts-looming-for-one-of-south-africas-biggest-employers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/639733\/huge-job-cuts-looming-for-one-of-south-africas-biggest-employers\/","title":{"rendered":"Huge job cuts looming for one of South Africa&#8217;s biggest employers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. said it might cut more than 2,000 jobs at some gold mining operations in South Africa that are struggling to make a profit.<\/p>\n<p>The Johannesburg-based precious metals producer will enter into consultations with labour groups and other stakeholders on the proposed restructuring, which could affect 1,959 employees and 465 contractors at its Beatrix 4 shaft and Kloof 1 plant.<\/p>\n<p>The operations aren\u2019t profitable as they are running out of commercially viable ore, and they face rising costs and lower output levels, Sibanye said in a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/thevault.exchange\/?get_group_doc=245\/1667285987-sibanye-stillwater-section189-consultations-beatrix4-Kloof1Plant-01Nov22.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTo allow shafts and operating plants that are no longer sustainable to continue operating at a loss will threaten the remaining life of mine of the other South African gold operations,\u201d said Richard Stewart, Sibanye\u2019s chief regional officer for Southern Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Sibanye, the largest employer in South Africa\u2019s mining sector, was hit by a workers\u2019\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2022-06-03\/sibanye-gold-mine-workers-to-end-strike-as-wage-deal-reached\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">strike<\/a>\u00a0over wages for almost three months earlier this year. The company is among producers battling to squeeze profits from some of the world\u2019s deepest and costliest gold mining shafts.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s becoming harder to operate the mines profitably due to strikes, higher electricity costs, and challenges extracting ore at depths of as much as 4 kilometres (2.5 miles), said company spokesman James Wellsted.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Remaining Mines<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Sibanye\u2019s remaining three gold mines produce just under 1 million ounces of gold annually. Its Beatrix mine will start winding down operations in 2025. Dreifontein &#8212; among the nation\u2019s deepest &#8212; is expected to close down in 2030 and Kloof three years later. Sibanye was spun off from Gold Fields Ltd.\u2019s oldest South African mines in 2013.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat&#8217;s the current life of mine on these assets,\u201d Wellsted said by phone. \u201cAt one time, these mines will reach the end of their operations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The restructuring at Beatrix and Kloof could result in job losses through natural attrition, voluntary separation and skills transfer. \u201cIt is anticipated that the consultation process will reduce the number of employees that may potentially be retrenched through the implementation\u201d of these measures, the company said in its statement.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <\/strong><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/639627\/sars-is-making-a-permanent-change-in-how-it-does-business-what-you-need-to-know\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SARS is making a permanent change in how it does business \u2013 what you need to know<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Johannesburg-based precious metals producer will enter into consultations with labor groups and other stakeholders on the proposed restructuring, which could affect 1,959 employees and 465 contractors at its Beatrix 4 shaft and Kloof 1 plant.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":418661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[1850,26,14477],"class_list":["post-639733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-bloomberg","tag-headline","tag-sibanye"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/59"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=639733"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639733\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639741,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639733\/revisions\/639741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418661"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}