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Anglo American update re. Anglo American Platinum
Anglo American plc
Incorporated in the United Kingdom
(Registration number: 3564138)
Short name: Anglo
Share code: AGL
ISIN number: GB00B1XZS820
(the "Company")
Anglo American update re. Anglo American Platinum
Anglo American plc draws attention to an announcement issued by Anglo American Platinum
Limited, the text of which is set out below:
Anglo American Platinum announces resolution of the strike action associated with the
restructuring of the business
Anglo American Platinum announced its proposals in January 2013 to create a sustainable,
competitive and profitable platinum business for the long term benefit of all its stakeholders.
The Company had originally proposed that a total of up to 14,000 jobs would be affected in
order to achieve those objectives, 13,000 of which would be in the Rustenburg area. It was
always envisaged that the ultimate numbers of employees to be retrenched, after taking into
account mitigation plans, would be significantly lower.
Subsequent to the announcement of that original proposal, Anglo American Platinum, the
Department of Mineral Resources and recognised unions agreed to suspend the section 189
consultations to allow for a thorough process of engagement.
The extensive consultation process between the DMR, Anglo American Platinum and
organised labour led to a revision of the original proposal, enabling the Company to still achieve
its efficiency objectives while reducing significantly the number of mining and processing jobs
affected to approximately 6,000, in addition to 900 corporate and overhead employees. This
was followed by an extensive consultation process facilitated by the CCMA, which commenced
on 10 June and was completed on 15 August 2013.
Anglo American Platinum, together with its stakeholders, identified a number of retrenchment
avoidance measures in order to minimise the number of affected jobs. These measures include
redeployment into vacancies across the group, voluntary severance packages and early
retirement, and further reduced the number of employees that would ultimately be retrenched to
approximately 3,300, as announced on 30 August 2013.
As part of the strike settlement, the 3,300 impacted employees who had previously not taken
up the offer of redeployment, voluntary separation or early retirement, and were to be
retrenched, have now been granted voluntary separation packages.
The Company will retain approximately 1,250 of those 3,300 employees for a period of six
months to undertake reclamation activities at the affected operations (Khuseleka 2 and
Khomanani 1 & 2). During this period, these employees will be offered job opportunities that
may become available as a result of ending the use of contract labour or vacancies created by
natural attrition. At the end of the six month period, employees not placed in vacant positions
will be exited with voluntary separation packages.
In addition, a further 328 job opportunities which are currently occupied by contractors will be
reserved for permanent employees on termination of existing contracts.
As a result of these retrenchment avoidance measures, no employees will be retrenched.
The Company’s review of the business was in response to its revised expectations for platinum
demand growth and a number of structural challenges that have eroded profitability in recent
years.
Anglo American Platinum’s restructuring will address the objective of aligning the business with
its expectation of long term demand and is an extension of the steps taken to reposition the
business in recent years.
The revised proposals include:
• Revising baseline production to 2.2 – 2.4 million ounces per annum in the short to
medium term
• Consolidating Rustenburg into three operating mines through the integration and
optimisation of Khuseleka 2 and Khomanani 1 and 2 mines into the surrounding mines.
This will result in a reduction of production capacity of approximately 250,000 ounces
per annum in 2013 and by an additional approximately 100,000 ounces per annum in
the medium term
• Reducing overhead costs and improving efficiencies
• Exploring opportunities for further joint venture business improvement and portfolio
rationalisation
These proposals will lead to Rustenburg operations being reconfigured as a sustainable
320,000 – 350,000 ounces per annum platinum producer in the medium term. The cost of the
restructuring remains within the forecasted range.
The legal strike action brought by AMCU, which commenced on Friday, 27 September 2013 in
the Rustenburg and the North of the Pilanesburg operations, has ended after 11 working days.
Operations in Rustenburg and the North of the Pilanesburg will resume operations after safe
start procedures have been completed.
Approximately 44,000 platinum ounces of production have been lost. Sales to the Company’s
customers were not interrupted, due to the Company’s inventory position.
Chris Griffith, CEO of Anglo American Platinum, said: “We have been working diligently with all
our stakeholders to reach a shared objective of creating a competitive platinum business. We
are pleased that the strike has ended, as this will provide us with an opportunity to implement
the business proposals which will lead to ensuring that we achieve our goal of creating a
sustainable and profitable business and minimise job losses. With this latest agreement, no
retrenchments will be necessary after the redeployments and voluntary separation packages.”
11 October 2013
Sponsor: UBS South Africa (Pty) Ltd
Notes to editors:
Anglo American is one of the world’s largest mining companies, is headquartered in the UK and
listed on the London and Johannesburg stock exchanges. Our portfolio of mining businesses
meets our customers’ changing needs and spans bulk commodities – iron ore and manganese,
metallurgical coal and thermal coal; base metals and minerals – copper, nickel, niobium and
phosphates; and precious metals and minerals – in which we are a global leader in both
platinum and diamonds. At Anglo American, we are committed to working together with our
stakeholders – our investors, our partners and our employees – to create sustainable value that
makes a real difference, while upholding the highest standards of safety and responsibility
across all our businesses and geographies. The company’s mining operations, pipeline of
growth projects and exploration activities span southern Africa, South America, Australia, North
America, Asia and Europe.
www.angloamerican.com
Date: 11/10/2013 08:55:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
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