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Johannesburg - Lonmin [JSE:LON] chief executive Ben Magara denied assertions that the company aimed to cut around 5 700 jobs, reported Reuters.
"There are no plans like that. Our priority is to ramp up production," said Magara.
Trade unions indicated that they were not aware about any job cuts at Lonmin mines in Marikana, they said on Monday, according to Sapa.
Trade union Solidarity said it was not surprised by reports that Lonmin plans to cut up to 5 700 workers, said general secretary Gideon du Plessis.
"We were waiting for something like this to occur. We are not surprised."
He said Lonmin indicated during wage negotiations that it was assessing some of its shafts that were not making profit.
"We were told during negotiation that retrenchments are imminent. The company has not formally consulted with us [Solidarity] with its plan to cut jobs. We only picked it up on the news," he said.
The dominant union at Lonmin, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), also said it was not aware of the alleged planned job cuts.
"We are not aware of this," said national treasurer Jimmy Gama.
The National Union of Mineworkers said it too was not aware. "We have not been consulted about it. There has not been formal engagement," said general secretary Frans Baleni.
He said the retrenchments might be triggered by the long strike in the platinum sector.
Amcu members at Lonmin, Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) [JSE:AMS] and Impala Platinum [JSE:IMP] downed tools for five months, demanding a basic monthly salary of R12 500.
A key reason behind the restructuring is the wage settlement reached in June with Amcu, said one source, who declined to be identified, according to Reuters.
"The settlement was a short-term solution to get the mines running again. But the only way Lonmin can afford it is to cut marginal shafts," said the source, who added he had been provided with an outline of the plan by a top Lonmin official.
Lonmin has few options for returning to healthy profit margins as it struggles to recover from the strike at a time when platinum prices are depressed.
Amcu's protracted strike was the longest and costliest in South African history.
Amplats has since said it plans to sell or spin off a number of the mines that were shut during the 2014 strike.
Implats is expected to update the market on potential restructuring when it reports full-year earnings on Thursday.
The company, the world's third-largest producer of the precious metal used for emissions-capping catalytic converters in automobiles, said in June that the strike and low prices meant "restructuring of our business has become inevitable".
- Sapa and Reuters
