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Pretoria - Consistently low commodity prices and the risk of job losses have forced government to call an urgent meeting with labour and business leaders in South Africa's mining sector, President Jacob Zuma said on Tuesday.
"We meet under difficult conditions," Zuma said in opening remarks at the Mining Sector National Consultative Forum in the capital Pretoria.
"The global economy is experiencing a downturn, which is posing a challenge for South Africa's economy, which is a net exporter of key mineral commodities."
On 13 August, Zuma said government and business need to work together to help reverse the current mining sector downturn.
"The mining sector is facing an acute challenge, partly as a result of the dramatic drop in commodity prices," he said.
A large number of companies were making losses, while investments in exploration and extraction had also dropped significantly, Zuma said. "At current prices, more than 40% of the country's platinum mining industry and 31% of the gold mining industry is loss making.
"We need to work together to turn this around."
In related news, Anglo American Platinum [JSE:AMS] and Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL] will make a joint announcement on Wednesday, following last week's announcement that Sibanye would consider buying Amplats Rustenburg mining operations.
- Reuters and News24
