Rustenburg Platinum Mines Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of Anglo American Platinum Limited, (“RPM”) has issued a Section 189 (3) notice to relevant parties in terms of Section 189A of the Labour Relations Act, 66 of 1995, for the commencement of a consultation process on the proposed redesign of RPM’s organisational support structure that envisages a reduction of up to 420 mainly managerial and supervisory positions.
The proposed redesign takes into account the financial difficulties in the PGM industry and is a continuation of Anglo American Platinum’s value-driven strategy. It aims to improve the Company’s financial sustainability by aligning the support structure with the proposed reconfiguring of operations into large, more efficient mining complexes benefitting from increased scale and less complexity. The reconfiguration will include the consolidation of mines with adjacent concentrator operations: Tumela Mine, Dishaba Mine and Amandelbult Concentrator will be consolidated and redesigned into the Amandelbult operation; and Mogalakwena Mine and Mogalakwena Concentrator into the Mogalakwena operation.
In addition, the regional functional centres in Rustenburg, Amandelbult and Polokwane will be closed and their functions incorporated into the adjacent operations and Corporate Office. As these measures may lead to job losses, the Company will be offering voluntary severance packages and will introduce comprehensive support measures to limit the impact of the proposed restructuring on affected employees. The 60 day consultation process is anticipated to end on 22 August 2015.
The proposed restructuring excludes the Company’s Rustenburg and Union Mine operations that are earmarked for disposal. Employees assigned to these operations have been ring-fenced and are protected from the Section 189 process.
In addition to the anticipated reduction in support staff, the Company is seeking to further substantially reduce indirect costs allocated to the operations.