In full support of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans to mitigate the impact of Covid-19, mining investment company Menar has suspended all mining operations.

“We support all efforts to enforce social distancing, including confining most people to their homes to prevent social and nonessential business activities from midnight on Thursday, March 26, until Thursday, April 16,” states Menar MD Vuslat Bayoglu.

Menar’s subsidiaries include mining and exploration companies. They are Canyon Coal, with operations in Mpumalanga and Gauteng; Zululand Anthracite Colliery in KwaZulu-Natal; and Kangra, in Mpumalanga.

“The health and safety of our employees is our top priority. We have, therefore, commenced procedures to place all Menar group mines, opencast and underground, as well as our processing plants on care and maintenance, to allow all our employees time to return in a safe and orderly manner to their homes, before the start of the mandatory lockdown,” Bayoglu said.

“Safeguarding and maintaining our infrastructure along with the continued compliance with all relevant health and safety, environmental and other relevant legislative requirements will remain in place throughout the national lockdown,” Bayoglu added.

He expressed hope that the President’s orders would be fully complied with and normal business would resume afterwards.

“We have made it publicly known that we plan to invest R7-billion in greenfield investments in the next two years and create over 5 000 jobs. The efficacy of the President’s directive will be critical in rebuilding the economy.”

“These tough measures are necessary to combat the Covid-19 pandemic and we urge all our employees, partners and stakeholders, along with all our fellow South Africans to comply with all the rules and regulations issued by the South African National Coronavirus Command Council in order to halt the spread of the pandemic and ensure South Africans’ health is preserved and to avoid the loss of life,” Bayoglu concluded.