Wrap Text
Anglo American Platinum announces resolution of the strike action associated with the restructuring of the business
ANGLO AMERICAN PLATINUM LIMITED
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa
Registration number 1946/022452/06
Share code: AMS
ISIN: ZAE000013181
(“the Company”)
NEWS RELEASE
10 October 2013
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.”
10 October 2013
Sponsor
RAND MERCHANT BANK (A division of FirstRand Bank Limited)
For further information, please contact:
Media:
Mpumi Sithole
Tel: +27 (0)14 591 1792
mpumi.sithole@angloamerican.com
Investors:
Leng Lau
Tel: +4420 7968 8540
Leng.lau@angloamerican.com
Emma Chapman
Tel: +44 20 7968 8451
emma.chapman@angloamerican.com
Notes to editors:
Anglo American Platinum Limited is a member of the Anglo American plc Group and is the
world’s leading primary producer of platinum group metals. The company is listed on the
Johannesburg Securities Exchange (JSE). Its mining, smelting and refining operations are
based in South Africa. Elsewhere in the world, the Group owns Unki Platinum Mine in
Zimbabwe and is actively exploring in Brazil. Anglo American Platinum has a number of joint
ventures with several historically disadvantaged South African consortia as part of its
commitment to the transformation of the mining industry. Anglo American Platinum is
committed to the highest standards of safety and continues to make meaningful and
sustainable difference in the development of the communities around its operations.
www.angloamericanplatinum.com
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 08:00:00 Produced by the JSE SENS Department. The SENS service is an information dissemination service administered by the JSE Limited ('JSE').
The JSE does not, whether expressly, tacitly or implicitly, represent, warrant or in any way guarantee the truth, accuracy or completeness of
the information published on SENS. The JSE, their officers, employees and agents accept no liability for (or in respect of) any direct,
indirect, incidental or consequential loss or damage of any kind or nature, howsoever arising, from the use of SENS or the use of, or reliance on,
information disseminated through SENS.
Sharenet Sites 
