JOHANNESBURG Feb 13 (Reuters) – Impala Platinum
, the world’s second largest platinum producer, said on
Monday it was unlikely to restart its Rustenberg operations,
where it has been losing 3,000 ounces a day in output for almost
a month, before next week.
“There is unlikely to be any production this week. We will
restart early next week at best,” spokesman Bob Gillmore told
Reuters.
The company’s Rustenburg operations have been halted for
close to a month after a labour dispute led to the sacking of
17,200 employees.
Gillmore said the company started rehiring last week and to
date 1,300 of the 5,000 rockdrill operators required had been
re-employed. He said the company needed at least 2,000 to get
started.
The dispute centered on a retention bonus awarded to miners
and has been punctuated by violence but Gillmore said things had
been “very quiet” over the weekend.
Implats Chief Executive David Brown cautioned last week in
an interview with Reuters that it would take “a few weeks” to
get back to full production.
Implats accounts for close to 25 percent of global platinum
output.
(Reporting by Sherilee Lakmidas, editing by Ed Stoddard and
Jason Neely)
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