BURGERSFORT – It has been more than two weeks since Black Chrome Mine (BCM) ceased operations at Driekop, Mooihoek.
The work stoppage has left about 1 400 workers stranded. They are not sure of their July salaries. They have also recently witnessed their medical aid suspended due to unpaid premiums.
BCM is owned by Sail Contracting Minerals.
According to the miners, they were shocked to receive a message indicating that they should not report for duty. “The night shift for July 5 has been cancelled. Employees are urged to remain calm,” the message read.
A frustrated employee found at the mine’s gates on Monday said, “We were shocked when it was communicated to us that we must not report for duty. There was no communication from the management or from the unions. All we received was messages via SMS that stated we must not report for duty,” said the miner.
They said the message were followed by this one: “We are at the mercy of the court currently. We are awaiting appointment of the liquidator and will keep you updated. Please remain calm.”
Earlier this month, Steelburger/Lydenburg News discovered that the mine released a communique indicating that Sail had been facing serious financial challenges arising from a lack of funding and challenging economic conditions.
“The Covid-19 pandemic and the latest adjusted level 4 lockdown has severely affected the mining industry. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy issued a notice which suspended Sail’s mining operations, which meant that the company could not continue operations for a certain period,” the statement from the Sail group revealed. The newspaper has a copy of this letter.
The workers alleged that they are still owed their monies for bonuses that were supposed to have been paid on July 9.
“We want to be paid our outstanding payments. The issue of liquidation must be dealt with the courts and the company while we continue receiving our salaries. They must remember that they did not give us retrenchment letters and they have to follow proper procedure when retrenching,” claimed one angry miner, who chose to remain anonymous.
Steelburger/Lydenburg News contacted the company’s general manager, Wayne Dietrich, who suggested all queries regarding the mine stoppages and unpaid salaries be directed to the liquidator, Chris Monyela of Masiye Administrators.
This publication forwarded queries to Monyela, who had not responded by the time of going to press.
On Tuesday, the mine entrances remained locked with strong security presence at the gates.
Meanwhile, on Monday, the EFF Sekhukhune visited the miners to hear their grievances. The party confirmed that it would investigate the matter with the national office.
