Miners remain underground at Sibanye-Stilwater Mine

RUSTENBURG – More than 30 miners remained underground at Sibanye-Stillwater’s e Kwezi Shaft in Rustenburg on Wednesday morning. This after over 200 miners downed tools on Monday in protest against the proposed Employee Share Ownership Scheme for Kroondal mine employees.

The mine management said mineworkers are demanding dividends from the 50% acquisition of Anglo Platinum’s share in the Kroondal mine, which has yet to be concluded. In 2022, Sibanye-Stillwater said it would acquire Anglo American Platinum’s share in the Kroondal platinum operation and become a sole owner.

Executive Vice President James Wellsted said most of the miners surfaced overnight. “The most recent information is that there are about 30 still underground. A lot of them came out overnight, so we are expecting most of them to be out by the end of today.

“While they were underground, we were trying to get them to come up. So there was quite a bit of communication, most of it through the union representatives following the incident last year at Gold One, where management was held hostage and assaulted by workers sitting underground. So, we haven’t sent any management underground.

Wellsted warned of consequences for workers who participated in the illegal strike. “When they come to the surface, we will make sure that they are fully nourished, give them a medical check-up, and, once they have gone home and rested, we will follow the appropriate procedures for this kind of grievance.

“This was an illegal sit-in, so there will also be disciplinary procedures that all of the striking employees will face. It could result in dismissal because this is a serious breach of our protocols and policies. It was ruled illegal by the court on Tuesday,” added Wellsted.