JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Gold Fields is currently losing around 2 200 oz of gold production a day as a result of illegal industrial action that has halted production at its 90%-owned Tarkwa and Damang mines in Ghana.
Production at both operations had been halted since Wednesday. No violence had been reported.
Johannesburg- and New York-listed Gold Fields said in a statement on Wednesday that members of the Ghana Mineworkers Union (GMU) and its affiliates, the Professional Managerial Staff Union and the Branch Union, on Tuesday presented management at both mines with a number of demands and threatened industrial action should the company not respond favourably to the demands within 24 hours.
The demands relate to a dispute in the determination of profit share payments to employees; the unconditional reinstatement of an employee who was dismissed following an internal disciplinary procedure; dissatisfaction with certain management structures; the removal of certain members of senior management; concerns about catering delivery models; and allegations of discrimination between expatriate and Ghanaian employees.
Gold Fields corporate affairs manager Sven Lunsche told Mining Weekly Online on Thursday that the company was attempting to set up formal meetings with the GMU in the next few days.