JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – With over 80% of platinum miners incurring losses owing to low platinum prices and rising operating costs, all industry stakeholders must come together to find sustainable solutions to the challenging operating climate, platinum miner Lonmin public affairs and communications executive VP Lerato Molebatsi urged on Thursday.
Speaking at training and conference company Intelligence Transfer Centre's seventh yearly Women in Mining conference, in Johannesburg, she pointed out that this was particularly urgent as wage talks in the platinum sector were scheduled to start in the coming months.
"The local mining industry, across all commodity streams is in a deep crisis, with thousands of mine employees facing retrenchment."
Molebatsi noted that, over the past decade, production volumes at local platinum mines had declined by 40% to 50%, while real labour costs had increased sharply by 150% to 250%.
Operating costs had increased at above-inflation rates, with electricity costs having increased 19% a year over the past five years.
With these challenges in mind, Molebatsi stressed the importance of mines modernising their operations to reduce costs and improve overall operational efficiencies.
"In my opinion, the days of labour intensive dependent mining operations are nearing an end. We are already seeing mines becoming increasingly mechanised and this trend is likely to become the norm," she contended.
Molebatsi remarked that mechanisation would improve safety standards on mines, which was the main thrust behind mine mechanisation programmes.
"Mechanisation can play a vitally important role in growing the South African mining industry and improving the sector's global competitiveness," she stated.