IT could take some of South Africa’s labour-intensive mines weeks to get back to full production once a government-ordered lockdown ends.
“Its going to take time to get going again,” Johan Theron, spokesman for Impala Platinum (Implats) told Bloomberg News. “The queue is going to be 40 kilometers long.”
Bloomberg News also identified some of the logistical difficulties deep-level underground mines may encounter including finding ways of containing the spread of the disease.
“Its very complex because the mines are big and deep and there are lots of people,” said Theron. “There is a real risk of people contracting the virus, which is the last thing anybody wants.”
“Everybody in the industry is considering how to manage the situation around vulnerable workers,” James Wellsted, a spokesman for Sibanye-Stillwater, told Bloomberg News. He also pointed to the economic difficulties of having stopped underground mining: “The longer you don’t generate cash, the more difficult it’s going to be to get back to normal.
“We need to ensure safety for all, but if we are unable to resume, everybody is going to be without jobs.”
The Minerals Council of South Africa told BusinessLive earlier this week there was the risk of permanent damage to the country’s mining as a result of the lockdown.
The council issued a letter to members in which it said that the economic damage of the lockdown to the country’s economy was “profound”. There would be a 20% decline in mining production in April and a 4.5% decline for the year even after assuming a smooth resumption post the lockdown on April 17, it said.
“This excludes the costs incurred to place operations on care and maintenance and the circa R7bn in wages paid during this lockdown period,” the council is quoted to have said.
