JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Two days worth of production had, by Friday afternoon, been lost at the Zandfontein section of Canadian platinum-miner Eastern Platinum’s (Eastplats’) Crocodile River mine (CRM), near Brits, in South Africa’s North West province.

About 500 contract workers from JIC and Sindele had started an illegal sit-in at the Zandfontein underground area, close to the entrance of the mine, at the start of the first shift on Thursday morning, taking a number of supervisory staff members from the contract mining companies hostage.

The last of the hostages were released at around 17:30 local time, and the workers themselves voluntarily returned to surface at approximately 04:30 on Saturday, following successful mediation between the parties involved, and were transported home, Eastplats reported on Saturday.

CRM management expected that normal operations at the Zandfontein section will be resumed at the start of the morning shift on Monday.

"Our primary focus has been to resolve this situation safely for everyone involved and we are very pleased that this has been achieved successfully. We would like to thank all those involved in achieving this safe outcome and trust that we can collectively move forward with negotiations in a spirit of good faith," said CEO Ian Rozier.

On Friday afternoon, Eastplats reported that the contract workers were located close to surface, around 30 m underground, in one of the mine’s declines. CRM management was providing the workers with with water and food, it added.

Spokesperson for the North West South African Police Service (SAPS), Superintendent Lesego Metsi told Mining Weekly Online earlier on Friday that some of the hostages had since managed to escape.

The National Union of Mineworkers and labour federation, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), all engaged with the mine's management to try to find a solution, said Metsi.

The contract workers had demanded that CRM and not the mining contractors directly and permanently employ them. They claimed that management had promised them this.

Local investor relations representatives for Eastplats, Russell & Associates, told Mining Weekly Online that management had been in discussions with the local branch committee of the NUM and with contractor employers regarding the possible employment of the contractor’s employees.

However, there had been economic, commercial and legislative obstacles that prevented it from doing so.

Rozier noted that, employing the contract workers directly would be in contravention with contractual agreements between CRM and the contract mining companies, as well as the contractual agreements between the mining contractors and their employees.

JIC and Sindele had, meanwhile, obtained a court interdict to stop the employees from participating in the illegal and unprotected strike action, to release the supervisors that were being detained and to vacate the underground working areas.

The order had been served on the group of contract workers, Eastplats said.

Metsi, meanwhile, said that the SAPS's strategy, for now, was not to send in any of its negotiators or the mine's management, but rather to wait it out until the workers were getting tired. He emphasised that the SAPS wanted to ensure that everyone came out of the mine safely.

Underground production at the Maroelabult section and the processing plant at the mine were continuing, Russell & Associates confirmed. The processing plant was currently treating ore from stockpiles.

The Zandfontein section accounted for about three-quarters of CRM’s production.

The mine had produced 32 969 oz of platinum-group metals in the first quarter of the 2009 financial year.

CRM employed about 1 500 people directly, while a further 1 500 people were employed by Sindile and JIC to work at the mine.

ABUSE OF CONTRACT WORKERS

Meanwhile, labour union Solidarity commented that the hostage drama, once again, put the spotlight on the "use and abuse" of contract workers.

It emphasised that a bargaining council specifically for contractors and contract workers urgently had to be implemented to tackle the issues of these contract workers.

“Trade unions have been warning for quite some time that employers are abusing contractors. Workers want stability and permanent jobs, and that is exactly why the regulation of the industry is now urgently needed,” said Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.

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