Rio halts operations at Richards Bay Minerals amid community violence
PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Diversified major Rio Tinto will curtail operations at Richards Bay Minerals (RBM), in South Africa, to ensure the safety and security of its employees due to an escalation in violence in the communities surrounding the operations.
There has been an escalation of criminal activity towards RBM employees and one was shot and seriously injured in the last few days. As a result, all mining operations at RBM have been halted and the smelters are operating at a reduced level, with a minimum number of employees now on site.
The miner on Wednesday said that construction of the Zulti South project has also been temporarily paused.
“The safety of our people is Rio Tinto’s key priority and we have taken decisive action to stop operations to reduce the risk of serious harm to our team members,” Rio’s CEO of its Energy & Minerals division, Bold Baatar, said.
“We are in discussions with the local communities, regional and national governments, and the police in order to find a way to address the safety and security issues. Our goal is to return RBM to normal operations in a safe and sustainable way. We would like to acknowledge and thank the police and authorities for their support.”
The miner will contact customers to advise on potential disruptions, warning also that titanium dioxide slag production for 2019 is now expected to be at the bottom end of 2019 guidance of between 1.2-million and 1.4-million tonnes.
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