Palabora halts mine operations amid protests

Johannesburg - Palabora Mining [JSE:PAM] Company has halted operations at its copper mine after protests by members of a nearby community over job recruitment procedures, a company official said on Wednesday.

Palabora's mine - in the Limpopo province - produces 43 000 tonnes of refined copper annually but the protests had affected output, the official said.

Hulisani Nemaxwi, Palabora Copper's corporate affairs manager, said the protests started on Friday after a meeting between the community and the company to iron out various issues deadlocked.

He said the Ba-Phalaborwa community members wanted to select who Palabora should employ, an arrangement the company said it was not willing to accept.

The protesters also want a proposed steel plant to be built in their region but Nemaxwi said a final decision on the location of the plant was yet to be made by the shareholders.

"They have blocked the buses, we are unable to ferry employees from and to work. We are losing between R25m and R27m a day in revenue," Nemaxwi said.

"We are running at skeletal stuff, we are not producing copper as we should."

Members of the community could not be reached for comment.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Tuesday that it supported the protests, without elaborating. However, the union said it "strongly opposed" any use of violence.

Palabora said in February its shareholders had approved a R9.3bn plan to extend the life of its copper mine by 20 years.