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The crisis of profitability in the platinum industry is a misleading phrase to describe the current situation. Platinum companies are still in fact making a profit. The issue is rather that they are no longer making the huge profits they did during the boom years of...
We shall not accept one more job loss at Angloplats – We shall resist – We shall fightWe do not accept the decision of Angloplats to fire 6000 workers. We are not relieved that management has reduced the number from 14,000. It may please the government and Minister...
The Association of Mining and Construction Workers (AMCU) was born in 1998 out of a strike at Douglas Colliery, one of the oldest mines belonging to Ingwe Coal, when 3,000 workers occupied the underground works of the mine in protest against the dismissal of Joseph...
Anglo's platinum operations are not "unprofitable". Rather, they are not "profitable enough". Plans to restructure will jeopardize the income of 14 000 workers and more than 100 000 dependents. AMCUs call to nationalize in response reflects the growing consensus on...
Whether the aftermath of Marikana will spell the downright end of the National Union of Mineworkers, the resentment against the traditional structures of bargaining and the union leadership is palpable in the platinum belt, sometimes bordering on murderous anger. The...
The vivid images of the Marikana Massacre and its aftermath are strikingly different from those capturing previous strikes by South African mineworkers. What is noticeable is the presence of large numbers of women – not all of them mineworkers – acting in support of...
For two months Angloplats refused to negotiate over the minimum demand for R16,500 per month before tax and deductions – a variation of the demand for a living wage of R12,500 in hand that spread like wildfire in the mining industry. The bosses repeatedly sent...
South Africa is by all accounts the world's richest country in terms of the value of its mineral resources. In 2010 these were valued at $2.5–$4.5 trillion. Mining is a lucrative business opportunity right now. The demand for commodities for the growing economies of...
Amandla (A!): Is platinum the new gold for the South African economy and how has the global crisis impacted on the industry? GC: Platinum has historically been a relatively marginal metal in the world economy. South Africa has 88 percent of the world's known reserves...