Business
South Africa: Amplats to sell mines and layoff 14,000
Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the world’s top platinum producer has revealed that it would cut 14,000 jobs in a broad restructuring of its strike-hit South African operations.
Additionally, Amplats said it planned to close four shafts and sell a mine considered unsustainable in South Africa.
“As a result of the proposed changes to the business, a total of up to 14,000 jobs may be affected,” the firm said in a statement. The vast majority of job cuts, 13,000 in all, would be lost around Rustenburg, a city 110 kilometres (70 miles) northwest of Johannesburg that was the crucible of labor unrest last August and September.
The labor unrest reduced Amplats platinum production by about 306,000 ounces.
In the end, the strikes may have merely been the last straw for Amplats, which like other operators in South Africa has struggled amid high extraction costs, a lack of modernization and steeper global competition.
Amplats said operations in South Africa have been unsustainable “for some time” because of high labor costs and low-quality ore.
“We are facing tough decisions to restore profitability to our operations,” said Amplats CEO Chris Griffith, while insisting that plans for restructuring pre-dated the strikes.
