Arguably the most direct recommendation to come out of the Farlam commission of inquiry into the Marikana massacre was the insistence that platinum-miner Lonmin be compelled to build the employee housing that it pledged to do under its social and labour plan. The transcript of the proceedings of the commission, which sat on 300 days, totals 39 719 pages of evidence, interim and interlocutory applications and oral argument. In addition to various videos, documentary evidence makes up thousands of pages. Read on page 18 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the commission setting new benchmarks for public order policing, creating points of reference for labour union behaviour and highlighting the need to guard against the harm that “loose groupings” can cause. The inquiry’s report into the 44 deaths calls for an investigation into the fitness of National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega to hold office and the accusations levelled against Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa, who was a nonexecutive Lonmin director at the time, were found to be groundless. Interestingly, the commission has called for police helicopters to be equipped with functional video cameras and for the upgrading of training in the use of video equipment by police.
The Chamber of Mines of South Africa is not giving up on its desire to have the High Court make a declaratory order on the principles applicable to the assessment of the black ownership element of the Mining Charter, particularly on the issue of ‘once empowered, always empowered’. Read on page 13 of this edition of Mining Weekly of the chamber originally wanting to do it jointly with government, and Minerals Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi concurring, but legal ramifications later necessitated a clear applicant and respondent, with an identifiable and clear point of dispute, which has now put them on opposite sides. The chamber has been at pains to emphasise that being in the opposite litigation camp to government does not imply a breakdown in the relationship between the chamber and the Department of Mineral Resources but rather an indication of the maturity of the relationship. The chamber sees its move as a sign that the objectives of the charter are being given effect.
Coal mining and trading company Wescoal, meanwhile, last week committed to being black controlled at holding company JSE level by December 2016 and spurned lesser levels of black economic empowerment through joint venture trading companies. Read on page 14 of this edition of Mining Weekly of Wescoal making no bones about doing so to win long-term contracts from Eskom, which insists that all its coal companies have a black shareholding of 50% plus one share. The other JSE-listed coal company on a similar tack is Keaton Energy, which told Mining Weekly at question time during its presentation of results last week that it had set a 24-month deadline to become black controlled for similar reasons, as can be read on page 12, which also outlines that Keaton has been hit by an alleged theft of R24.7-million worth of coal from its troubled Vaalkrantz colliery, in KwaZulu-Natal. An investigation into corrupt collusion has already led to the laying of the first criminal charge. Scan the barcode on page 14 with your cellphone’s QR reader or go to Video Reports on www.miningweekly.com to watch a video on Wescoal’s presentation.