JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Competition Commission has issued a CC19 Notice of Apparent Breach against the merged entity of Sibanye Gold and Newshelf 1114, after the newly formed company allegedly attempted to carry out merger-related retrenchments before the expiry of a two-year moratorium.
“This is a serious matter, as it involves an apparent breach of merger conditions. The commission will await the merged entity’s response to the notice before taking any further steps,” acting deputy commissioner Hardin Ratshisusu said in a statement.
On February 5, the Competition Tribunal approved the acquisition of Newshelf by Sibanye Gold, on condition that the merged entity did not retrench any employees for a period of two years following the implementation of the merger.
Newshelf was ultimately controlled by Gold One International and was the vehicle in which Gold One held its Cooke mining operations, in Gauteng.
The merger resulted in deep-level and surface gold miner Sibanye having sole control over the Cooke mining operations.
However, on November 5, the commission received a formal complaint from the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) alleging that Sibanye was in breach of the conditions for carrying out merger-related retrenchments before expiry of the moratorium.
NUM alleged that Sibanye’s need for the reduction of support services at Cooke was occasioned by the merger.
Having reviewed NUM’s complaint, the commission concluded that the retrenchments appeared to be as a result of a duplication of roles that would otherwise not exist in the absence of the merger.
The merged entity was now required, within ten business days of the issuing of the notice, to either submit to the commission a plan to remedy the breach or request the Competition Tribunal to review the notice.