Mantashe on Platinum10 Apr 2018 18:22
10th APRIL
Addressing a platinum industry breakfast ahead of the conference, Mantashe said that in the first 44 days since his appointment as mines minister, he had found �.. an industry in self-doubt which is about to die�.
�I found an industry where suspicion and distrust is at the highest level. Nobody trusts nobody,� he said. �When someone walks into a room, other people start to whisper. So the first thing to work on is to develop trust among ourselves. As a mineworker who goes underground, your life depends on the next person so your life as a miner is one of trust.�
Mantashe also controversially questioned whether the platinum sector was in crisis, saying that at $1,000/oz, the price of platinum was high enough to support the industry. His view is that had mining companies fostered a better relationship with labour, it would have been in a better position today.
�My diagnosis of the crisis in platinum is the relationship with workers. When you are tied [in distress], they want you to behave normally, but when you have a relationship, they are your partners [in difficult economic conditions]. The wave of strikes in the industry tells you about the relationship between workers and companies,� he said.
Bernard Swanepoel, a former gold mining CEO and prominent industry participant, said in an opening address to the conference that the platinum sector was in a worst position than the gold sector when it formed the Gold Crisis Committee in 1999 as the dollar price of gold slid to multi-year lows of about $255/oz.
However, Swanepoel acknowledged the importance of Mantashe�s appointment to the mining brief in cabinet. �We have never had a political heavyweight [as mines minister]. So never has it been more important to have the second most senior ANC member being deployed as mines minister,� he said.
http://www.miningmx.com/top-story/32481-mantashe-wont-appeal-high-court-finding-focus-falls-80-complete-charter-talks/
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