The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been on strike since 6pm on Sunday at Kumba Resources and the union will be consulting its members at 6pm on Monday regarding Kumba’s latest offer, NUM Kumba representative Jackie Tshimanegape said.
The world’s largest diamond miner, De Beers, on Friday said it expects the outlook for the global rough diamond market for the second half of 2006 to be difficult. "It has been a testing time over the past six months," De Beers chairperson Nicky Oppenheimer said during a results teleconference.
Lafarge South Africa on Friday signed a R1,1-billion empowerment deal with consortium Sinako that may result in 26% of its quarries and 10% of its manufacturing businesses in South Africa being sold. Lafarge Mining incorporates aggregates and limestone, and Lafarge Industries incorporates cement, gypsum-plasterboard and ready mix concrete manufacturing.
The five-person panel appointed by the Treasury to study the possibility of imposing a windfall tax on petrochemicals group Sasol and state-owned PetroSA on Thursday issued a 102-page discussion document. Finance Minister Trevor Manuel first mooted the possibility of a windfall tax during his Budget speech in February.
The strike by trade union Solidarity’s members at petrochemicals group Sasol is set to enter a second day after a meeting held with the company did not lead to any resolution of the wage dispute and other issues, Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans said on Tuesday.
South African petrochemicals group Sasol on Thursday announced that the R1,45-billion Tshwarisano black economic empowerment (BEE) transaction has been successfully concluded. In terms of the agreement, Tshwarisano acquired a 25% shareholding in Sasol’s South African liquid-fuels business housed in Sasol Oil.
Africa’s largest steel producer Mittal Steel SA will cut 800 jobs through voluntary severance packages by the end of 2006, CEO Davinder Chugh said on Thursday. Of these 800 jobs, about 350 will be at the company’s largest plant at Vanderbijlpark. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) said on Thursday it was outraged at Mittal’s plan.
Trade union Solidarity and resources company Kumba Resources started the first day of their annual wage negotiations with Kumba tabling an offer of 4%, while Solidarity demanded an increase of 12%, the union said on Tuesday. "Kumba’s offer to workers at the bottom levels puts them under the breadline in South Africa," Solidarity said.
World number-five gold miner Harmony Gold is taking a fresh look at its business model in the light of the prevailing bull market in gold, which is creating a new generation of investors who are keen to invest in bullion, Harmony Gold CEO Bernard Swanepoel said on Friday.
As expected, South Africa’s third largest gold producer Harmony Gold reported its eleventh consecutive quarterly headline loss due to the Christmas break, a reduction in grades and an increase in costs. For the March quarter, Harmony reported a headline loss of 50 cents per share from a loss of 75 cents in the December quarter.