RUMOURS that the casthouse at BHP Billiton’s Bayside Aluminium is being ‘sold’ were dismissed by the mining conglomerate this week.
This comes as a range of options are being assessed with the main aim of mitigating the impact of job losses while ensuring the existence of a sustainable aluminium business in Richards Bay
In January, BHP Billiton announced the shutdown of Bayside’s remaining potlines effectively ending aluminium production at the ageing smelter and leaving hundreds of jobs hanging in the balance.
A potential buyer on the cards for the cast house could be ‘an answer to prayer’ if employees are absorbed and retrenchments are reduced.
However, Head of External Affairs at BHP Billiton Aluminium SA, Aroon Patel told the Zululand Observer on Wednesday that ‘there was no buyer on the table’.
‘We have not taken a decision to sell. We are still in the position of exploring multiple potential outcomes and no decision has been made in relation to the end state.
‘We are in the process of going out in the market and asking for expression of interests from potential buyers to buy the cast house as an entity. We are assessing the sale option,’ said Patel.
For this option to become viable, Patel said a number of stakeholders needed to be aligned.
‘We are in the process of assessing and shortlisting offers. If we do not get viable offers, we will explore our remaining options, which is aligned to the vision of sustainably providing metal to the downstream industry,’ said Patel.
Consultation
BHP met with union members as well as the Employee Management Team and non-union employee representatives this week as part of an ongoing consultative process.
Solidarity said the company had made a proposal on voluntary severance packages after which unions presented a counter proposal.
‘Only after this is finalised, we will know if the final number of retrenchments can be reduced,’ said Solidarity national organiser Francois van Heerden.
‘Artisans and operators make the bulk of retrenchments with the impact on the managerial side being minimal. These retrenchments will have a ripple effect on many businesses including suppliers, who are losing Bayside contracts,’ Van Heerden said.
Numsa Regional Secretary Mbuso Ngubane said one worker dismissed was still ‘too much’.
‘One person provides financial support to around five to eight people. We are still busy with information sharing and digging deep down to find out the root cause of the problem,’ said Ngubane.
Patel said the opportunity for voluntary severance packages would reduce the number of people affected by forced retrenchments.
Bayside’s looming retrenchments in the aluminium business comes as BHP confirmed its plans last week to focus its business on just four commodities – iron ore, copper, coal and petroleum – with potash a possible addition.
This casts a shadow of uncertainty over the future of the company’s aluminium assets in South Africa.
