Unlike most mining industry commen-tators, trade union Uasa mining divi-sion manager Franz Stehring has described South Africa’s mining industry as a “sunrise industry” with significant potential, depending on how the current situation is handled by key industry stakeholders.

“Right now, the mining industry is in the hands of unions, labour, government and employers. We have legislation and we need to act in terms of that legislation,” he said, addressing delegates at the twenty-sixth Annual Labour Law Conference, which ran from July 30 to August 1 at the Sandton Convention Centre, in Johannesburg.

Stehring said the industry would benefit most from a “quantum leap” in productivity, adding that, while production was significantly hindered in 2012, lessons learned from last year’s unlawful strikes have incentivised stake- holders to take a different approach to man-aging labour.

He mentioned that the mining industry was reviewing different bargaining models and seemed to favour unions’ proposed estab- lishment of a bargaining council, which, he said, would prevent the isolation of certain employers and eliminate violence and intimidation during bargaining season.

This ‘glass half full’ approach is also under-pinned by the framework agreement, which was signed by government, labour and business leaders in July, under the auspices of Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, ahead of the industrywide wage negotiations currently under way.
Stehring described this move by the industry as a show of statesmanship, which he believed was necessary to ensure the development of the mining industry.

He argued, however, that the need for the accord would not have been necessary had the mining industry secured “a collaborative approach at the coalface”, which would have prevented last year’s fateful labour unrest.

He added that unions had a significant role to play as facilitators in this regard to ensure that mining communities are sustainable and enjoy decent standards of living.

Stehring further pointed out that South Africa’s mines, especially those in the gold sector, were maturing and were becoming more complicated to mine, as companies had to mine deeper to extract the remainder of a resource.

He highlighted that certain mining com-panies, like Anglo American, were actively investigating alternative mining technologies to reform the industry and maintained that South Africa required an industrywide adoption of more appropriate mechanised mining systems.

Stehring also stated that mechanisation in South Africa was imminent, as a result of the depth of some of the country’s mines and the subsequent heat and lack of ventilation at those levels.

He added that, while there were some defin-ite implications to pursuing mechanised mining systems in earnest, these types of reforming actions would improve production and ensure economic sustainability for South Africa, considering the economy’s dependence on the mining industry.

Moreover, Stehring called for mining com-panies to consider increasing the number of days worked on mines each year to increase production. He quickly added, however, that workers should spend less time underground for health and safety reasons, which again pointed to increasing mechanisation.

Stehring further highlighted Section 54 stoppages as problematic in terms of ensuring the sustainability of the mining industry in South Africa.

He lamented government’s ongoing heavy-handed implementation of Section 54 of the Mine Health and Safety Act – which permits the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) to shut down a shaft after a fatal accident – as it was “killing” mining operations by forcing stoppages and taking away much-needed production shifts.

Instead of issuing a Section 54 notice and stopping the whole mine, Stehring suggested that the DMR implement sectional stoppages for a shorter period without shutting down the whole mine.

He suggested that all tiers of government – and not just the DMR – should be collab-orating on an industrywide reformation.

“If we work towards a successful mining industry that can contribute to gross domestic product and ensure the safety of employees, we’ll be doing what is needed to turn the mining community into a contributable sector – not only in terms of economic wealth but also in terms of health and safety.”

Stehring further urged stakeholders to work together to moderate costs, improve productivity and restore production cycles to ensure stability in the industry.

“We need to reposition the industry for growth by focusing on competitiveness and contributing to community development. “We do have a future and we will survive, but labour, government and mining companies need to work together to understand the common interest of all parties,” he concluded.