Samancor Chrome, the South African chrome mining company and ferrochrome producer on Friday issued a Section 189 notice to all the recognised unions representing staff across all operations and corporate office.
According to a company announcement which the company issued, this action is in spite of the implementation of several measures at all the business units of the organisation over the past months.
This included a reduction of overtime, a moratorium on recruitment and the discontinuance of contractors. The severe drop in chrome ore prices, resulting in a decrease of the ferrochrome market price, has forced the company to take this action it says.
The Section 189 will start the consultation process between the company and the unions. All options will be explored to mitigate the current situation. These are challenging times for the chrome ore and ferrochrome industry and for all its stakeholders.
Samancor’s chrome mines are located on the eastern and western Limb of the Bushveld Complex – Eastern Chrome Mines and Western Chrome Mines. It also operates three ferrochrome smelters. The company has traditionally been one of the largest integrated ferrochrome producers in the world.
This latest announcement sees another South African company reveal the drastic measures it has to take in order to face the current commodity crisis as cost to produce outweighs product cost.
For the original source of this article, click here: http://www.miningreview.com/samancor-chrome-issues-section-189-and-starts-union-consultation-process/