Hiccups hit Harmony output
HARMONY Gold said yesterday its output for the first three months of this year would be about 15% lower than in the previous quarter after various hiccups at its operations.
HARMONY Gold announced yesterday that its output for the first three months of this year would be about 15% lower than in the previous quarter after various hiccups at its operations.
“The temporary closure of Kusasalethu due to safety and security reasons, the ventilation challenge at Phakisa (mine) and a slow start-up at the other operations post the festive season, resulted in lower quarter-on-quarter gold production,” it said.
But more than half of the employees at Kusasalethu had returned to work to date and the mine was expected to return to normal production levels after June this year. The workers first had to go through medical checks and the mine had speeded up the checks, processing 130 people a day from 80 at the beginning.
Harmony closed the Kusasalethu mine in December after workers embarked on a violent, unprotected strike. The action came as the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) attracted the majority of the mine’s workforce away from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
Harmony said Kusasalethu’s and Phakisa’s performance might further affect production in the three months to June.
Harmony CEO Graham Briggs said last month that he wanted his workers to sign a code of conduct to prevent violence and destruction of mine property. “Workers firstly have a contract with an employer and then he has the option of a union affiliation.
“Somehow that has been twisted around. Everyone believes the union comes first and the employer comes second.
“The whole process at Kusasalethu is trying to get it instilled that the employer has rights. This is the tough process that the South African mining industry has to go through.”
Labour management has become an especially important challenge for miners since Amcu wrestled power away from NUM in various mines. The union fight for workers has been violent and strikes have been protracted.
Mr Briggs said Harmony was now in the process of raising cash to pay dividends and proceed with a large capital investment in a copper and gold mine in Papua New Guinea in about five years.