JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – JSE-listed Village Main Reef said on Wednesday that an unprotected strike involving 918 employees at its ConsMurch antimony and gold mine, in Limpopo, is threatening the viability of the mine and, consequently, jobs at the operation.

The company obtained a Labour Court interdict, which would see it dismissing the employees engaged in the strike, some of whom had blocked access to the mine’s Monarch decline shaft.

“These employees are in effective control of the shaft and are preventing negotiators from accessing the underground employees. Assistance has also been sought from the South African Police Service to gain access to the shaft and to prevent further damage to property,” the company said in a statement.

The gold miner said it had not prevented the employees from receiving food and had not switched off water or electricity to the affected shaft.

However, production at the mine had been halted.

“Regrettably, attempts so far to engage the strikers in dialogue through their representative union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), have failed to resolve the matter. Management continues to constructively engage with NUM representatives with the primary aim of bringing an end to the unprotected strike,” the company said. 

The strike began as a sit-in by about 100 employees – mainly NUM members – on July 12, who demanded either a lump sum payout from an employee share trust or dividend payments as participants in the trust.

Village said the employee share trust was set up, at no cost to employees, with a 23.4% shareholding in the company.

However, the company said that, since acquisition, it had invested significant amounts of capital in the mine to refurbish the metallurgical plant, acquire trackless mining equipment and develop underground infrastructure and it was thus not in a position to return investment, or dividends, to its shareholders.

The company called on unions and employees to end the strike and to cease any further threat to or damage of property.