Lonmin closes two shafts hit by protests

LONMIN, the world’s third largest platinum producer, is worried about the impact of the week-long community protests that have resulted in the closure of two of its shafts near Bapong in North West.

Wendy Tlou, a company spokesperson, said yesterday the E2 and E3 shafts had to be shut because of the protest action by youths in Bapong, who were demanding jobs.

Tlou said Lonmin, which was expected to release its interim results on Monday, lost R40 million in production this past week as the protesting community closed roads and burnt tyres.

On Wednesday, a bus transporting employees from work was set alight.

Tlou said the protests were being led by youths of Bapo Ba Mogale, who were demanding that Lonmin create 1 000 permanent jobs and 500 cadet placements for community members.

“These demands are not realistic in the current economic climate and cannot be acceded to without threatening the sustainability of the business,” Tlou said.

“Lonmin has recently undergone a restructuring in close consultation with its recognised union and significantly reduced its workforce as a result. It simply cannot absorb additional employees at this stage,” she added.

The Mining Forum of South Africa, a non-governmental organisation that focuses on the enforcement of social and labour plans (SLPs) and the Mining Charter, said yesterday the protests were fuelled by anger because Lonmin had not met its SLP.

Not done much

Forum founder Blessings Ramoba said Lonmin, which was the scene of the Marikana massacre in August 2012 in which 34 mineworkers were killed by police during a wage strike, had not done much to improve the lives of the community.

“Lonmin has not only failed the community of Marikana, but also their employees, who continue to live in absurd conditions.”

Ramoba said the protest would not stop until Lonmin created the jobs, adding the forum had proposed that the company create a skills training programme for the unemployed youth, but this proposal had fallen on deaf ears.

“They (community members) say they are going to intensify the strike, and if it means they burn tyres to destabilise Lonmin, they will do so,” Ramoba said.

Despite the protests, Lonmin shares rose by 1.35 percent yesterday on the JSE to close at R20.21.

An analyst, who did not want to be named, attributed this to investors perceiving the Bapong protest as being a spill-over from the nationwide community protests.