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South Africa: Industrial action in mining industry may spread to coal sector
(Reuters) – Industrial action by South Africa’s platinum, gold, iron ore and diamond miners could spread to coal, potentially disrupting output from one of the world’s biggest coal suppliers.
As many as 75,000 miners, or 15 percent of the industry’s workforce in South Africa, are on strike, undermining already shaky growth in Africa’s biggest economy and threatening to spread to coal despite big differences between the sectors.
Coal majors and smaller firms said they are watching developments closely.
“There is potential for some noise from the workforce, the situation should be manageable, but sometimes logic goes out of the window,” said one executive at a mining major.
Some smaller mining companies said they could be more vulnerable.
“People at Rustenburg took matters into their own hands and got a good pay deal. So if others look at that and want the same, it could spread to other provinces or companies,” an official at a small mining firm said, referring to Lonmin’s pay rise.
Miner BHP’s South Africa coal subsidiary the BHP Billiton Energy Coal South Africa Limited (BECSA), said its operations were continuing normally.
