Sibanye-Stillwater has revealed plans to retrench as many as 4 000 employees from its South African gold mining operations as it restructures its operations, defers capital and address losses from non-profitable shafts.
The proposed restructuring of the operations and services could potentially affect 3 107 employees and 915 contractors, Sibanye-Stillwater said today.
The multinational mining and metals processing group explained that it had “identified a need to address losses at the Beatrix 1 shaft, which has been unable to deliver planned production, and the Kloof 2 plant which, after the closure of the Kloof 4 shaft during 2023, has had insufficient processing material available” to cover overheads.
“The deferral of capital expenditure at the Burnstone project, announced in February 2024, also requires restructuring aligned with the reduction in planned capital activities,” said the company.
Sibanye is also re-aligning its regional services, shared services and direct services structures to align with the requirements of a reduced operational footprint.
Sibanye’ CEO Neal Froneman said this would reduce direct operational services costs and regional overhead cost.
“We continue to act prudently to protect the balance sheet and ensure the sustainability of the group,” Froneman said.
“We are committed to constructively engaging with affected employees and through their representatives to minimise job losses.”
The company has since opened consultations in terms of Section 189A of the Labour Relations Act with labour unions and with representatives of affected non-unionised employees, regarding the proposed restructuring and retrenchments at its SA gold operations and its Southern Africa regional services functions.
BUSINESS REPORT