This as the Alexander Bay Mine will be retrenching 190 employees due to the company’s strained financials. Alexkor Limited is divided into two units, namely: the Northern Cape-based mine and a corporate unit whose offices are in Johannesburg. OFM News has only received confirmation of retrenchments at the mine, not at the corporate unit. It is reported the mine currently employs just under 900 people, making the lay-offs a significant blow to the impoverished Richtersveld community.

Speaking on behalf of the CEO of the Pooling and Sharing Joint Venture (PSJV) between Alexkor SOC and the Richtersveld Mining Company, Mervyn Carstens, the Company Secretary, Raygen Phillips, says in a written response to questions on the matter that the mine has applied for the bail-out via the corporate unit. Phillips says the mine’s financial position has been negatively impacted by adverse sea conditions which had a significant impact on production of marine contractors. In late February the mine vehemently denied that it was going to retrench any of its employees or that it had allegedly failed to pay January salaries timeously.

The company secretary does not mention that the mine’s carat production decreased significantly after the decision to grant an exclusive deep water mining licence to one company in 2017 backfired when the company’s vessel caught fire, resulting in no carat production over the 2017/18 financial year.

Requests to interview the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Enterprises, Lungi Mnganga-Gcabashe, regarding Alexkor RMCJV have been denied. OFM News has been informed that Mnganga-Gcabashe is busy campaigning for elections and none of the members of the committee are available for interviews on the matter.

OFM News