JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Mining major Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) has reworked its retrenchment and restructuring plan to end a legal 11-day strike by members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which saw the company losing some 44 000 oz of platinum production.

AMCU members downed tools on September 27 to protest against the platinum miner’s plans to retrench up to 3 300 workers, despite Amplats having scaled this back from its original plans to cut 14 000 jobs after fierce criticism from the government and unions.

As part of the recently agreed strike settlement, 3 300 employees that had previously not taken up the company’s offer of redeployment, voluntary separation or early retirement, and who were to be retrenched, had now been granted voluntary separation packages.  

Amplats said in a statement late on Thursday that it would retain some 1 250 of the 3 300 employees for a period of six months to undertake reclamation activities at the Khuseleka 2 and Khomanani 1 and 2 shafts.

During this period, these employees would be offered job opportunities that may become available as a result of ending the use of contract labour or vacancies created by natural attrition.

“At the end of the six-month period, employees not placed in vacant positions will be exited with voluntary separation packages,” the company noted, adding that a further 328 job opportunities that were currently occupied by contractors would be reserved for permanent employees on termination of existing contracts.

“As a result of these retrenchment avoidance measures, no employees will be retrenched,” CEO Chris Griffith commented.

The company’s review of the business earlier this year was prompted by revised expectations for platinum demand growth and a number of “structural challenges” that had eroded profitability in recent years.

The revised proposals include amending baseline production to between 2.2-million and 2.4-million ounces a year in the short to medium term by consolidating the Rustenburg operation into three operating mines through the integration and optimisation of the Khuseleka 2, Khomanani 1 and Khomanani 2 mines into the surrounding mines.

This would result in a reduction of production capacity of some 250 000 oz/y in 2013 and by an additional 100 000 oz/y in the medium term.