Lonmin and state oppose mining forum’s court bid against Sibanye takeover – by Allan Seccombe (Business Day – October 22, 2018)

https://www.businesslive.co.za/

Lobby group demands the platinum miner first complies with its social and labour plans

A court challenge to stop Sibanye-Stillwater’s R5bn takeover of Lonmin by challenging the platinum miner’s adherence to a social and labour plan was branded as deeply flawed and misleading by Lonmin.

The department of mineral resources, which stands accused by Mining Forum of SA and its president Blessings Ramoba of being ineffectual in its dealings with Lonmin’s social and labour plans, acted equally as angrily as the platinum miner, requesting the court in its affidavit to throw the matter out and order “punitive costs” against the forum and Ramoba.

The forum and Ramoba argued that Lonmin “never complied with its statutory obligations over the years of conducting its operations”. “It has been able [to] successfully evade its obligations principally because of the lack of effective policing by the department of mineral resources,” they said.

In their affidavit due to be heard in the High Court in Mahikeng on October 26, the forum and Ramoba are asking the court to interdict Lonmin from selling any assets and to order mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe to compel Lonmin to halt operations until it had complied with its obligations laid out in the social and labour plan.

The last demand would bring hardship to Lonmin’s 30,000 employees if the forum and Ramoba had their way, Thandeka Ncube, Lonmin’s executive vice-president of stakeholder engagement and regulatory affairs, said in reply.

For the rest of this article: https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/companies/mining/2018-10-22-lonmin-and-state-oppose-mining-forums-court-bid-against-takeover/