PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed platinum producer Platinum Australia on Wednesday reported that work at the company’s Smokey Hills mine, in South Africa, had come to an almost complete stop, as mine contractor staff went on an unprotected industrial action.

The platinum miner said that workers had refused to go underground since the start of day shift on Monday.

Mining contractor Redpath Mining has advised its workers to return to work, or face dismissal for participating in the unprotected industrial action. Platinum Australia said that the contractor had measures in place to deal with the situation in the event that employees were dismissed.

While the industrial action did not involve any other workers at the mine, it has resulted in the stoppage of almost all operations at the mine, Platinum Australia said. However, scheduled maintenance work on the plant has now been brought forward to assist in decreasing the impact of the stoppage.

Platinum Australia said in a statement that it was unsure how long the industrial action would impact on operations at Smokey Hills, but it expected that normal operations would restart by the end of the week, or the beginning of next week.

During the six months ending December, around 170 000 t of ore was mined from the Smokey Hills openpit operation and more than 136 000 t from the underground operations. More than 20 000 oz of four element platinum-group metals was shipped from the operation during this time.

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