Overview
- Bakubung halted operations from 6pm on 3 June for a three-week pause to allow CCMA-facilitated Section 189A consultations and said the site will remain safe and operationally ready.
- Wesizwe notified employee representatives that the proposed restructuring could affect about 497 of the mine’s 706 workers across multiple grades and disciplines.
- The board has scrapped the previous 1 Mtpa plan and adopted a single-stage ramp-up to 3.5 Mtpa, a change the company says reduces the number of staff needed to reach the new production profile.
- The National Union of Mineworkers said it was not consulted before the process began and accused the mine of seeking to replace permanent staff with temporary contractors, while local leaders warned of community harm.
- The CCMA-led consultations must consider ways to avoid or reduce job losses but Wesizwe says viable alternatives are limited, a development that could cut local incomes and shift costs toward contractors if retrenchments proceed.