JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – South Africa's powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday that it would take diamond giant De Beers "to the cleaners" over impending retrenchments at its Finsch mine, in Northern Cape province.

This comes after the miner announced in May that 350 jobs were at risk at the mine as part of a restructuring exercise to avoid losing R200-million a year.

De Beers spokesperson Tom Tweedy explained on Wednesday that the Finsch mine had incurred significant financial losses as a result of a number of factors impacting on the profitability of its mining business; including the high costs of operating the mine.

The diamond miner had settled a wage dispute with the NUM earlier on Wednesday. The wage deal includes, among other agreements, a 10% wage increment and an 8% shift allowance.

The NUM slammed De Beers' restructuring process and said that the Section 189 notices were "irregular", as specific job grades were not detailed in the notice.

But Tweedy stated that the notices were issued in the "prescribed and correct" manner to all 870 employees at the mine and not to specific grades of employees.

"Of the 870 employees at the mine, an estimated 350 positions, some of which are vacant, might be affected in the restructuring process now under way."

The union called on De Beers to revisit its strategy and reverse the intention to retrench the workers.

"It cannot be right that the only thing to show that mining ever took place in the Northern Cape will be the big hole," NUM regional secretary Tshimane Montoedi said.

De Beers pointed out that it was exploring a number of options to minimise the impact of the restructuring such as: transfers within the company, engaging with other neighbouring mines regarding the potential for re-employment of employees that may be displaced, acceptance by eligible employees of voluntary early retirement and voluntary retrenchment packages, and other opportunities for reasonable alternative employment.

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