Photo by: Duane Daws
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) on Wednesday said it “vehemently” opposed an additional mining rights application by diamond miner Petra Diamonds, in the Swartruggens area of the North West, near its Helam mine, where 370 employees would be retrenched.
NUM acting national spokesperson Livhuwani Mammburu told Mining Weekly Online that the union was strongly opposed to the rights application as it showed that the company had money available and yet still chose to retrench the majority of its workforce at Helam.
“They are retrenching 80% of their workforce but have money to build another mine,” he stated.
The union noted that it had written a letter to the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) objecting to the DMR granting Petra additional mining rights.
Meanwhile, Mammburu also felt that Petra had not handled the retrenchment process in accordance with Mineral and Petroleum Resources Development Act requirements, stating that the DMR had not been involved in the process at Helam mine.
He said the diamond miner had now declared a dispute against the union for refusing to be part of the retrenchment process; however, he noted that “the NUM can’t be forced to be part of the process”.
“This is totally unacceptable,” he added.
Petra could not immediately be reached for comment.