JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed Sibanye Gold would shed 1 110 jobs and halt all developmental activities at its Beatrix West Section, in Westonaria, as it moved to avoid immediate closure of the operation.

Sibanye announced in a statement on Wednesday that the discontinuation of development at Beatrix West Section would impact 330 employees, while about 780 over-complement positions at the Beatrix operations as a whole would be reduced.

This followed the group’s Section 189A consultations with organised labour, the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and relevant stakeholders in April to consider the options available for its struggling Beatrix mine.

The Beatrix West Section remained closed after an underground fire on February 19, resulting in the monthly loss of R28-million in revenue and 1 961 oz in production, and bringing the future viability of the operation into question.

To date, no alternative to the eventual termination of operations had been found.

“ … job losses have largely been limited to development employees, thereby providing continuing employment to stoping employees for longer,” the company said, adding that this would remain the case as long as the section operated profitably and had stope face to mine.

Sibanye said it would attempt to limit the number of job losses and, where possible, absorb the affected employees elsewhere in the group.

Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman commented that the process had proceeded in a mature manner with management, organised labour, nonunionised employees and all stakeholders contributing positively to the negotiation process and the unfortunate commercial realities.

The planned Sibanye lay-offs come at a time when Anglo American Platinum is also contemplating 6 000 job cuts, although trade union Uasa said that the platinum miner might limit job losses to 1 300.

Mineral Resources Minister Susan Shabangu announced in Parliament on Tuesday that the DMR would “urgently” work on a rescue plan for the struggling gold and platinum sectors. She said that there would be a particular focus on both supply- and demand-side interventions.

Chamber of Mines vice president and CEO Mike Teke said this week that more than two-thirds of the country’s platinum companies were operating at a loss and that gold companies, under pressure from a lower gold price, were also not making profit.