Trade union Solidarity alleges that the Department of Water Affairs
and Forestry (Dwaf) may derail the takeover by Simmer and Jack
Mines of DRDGold’s liquidated North West assets.
The union, which is supporting the bail-out plan, alleges that Dwaf
may scupper the takeover of Buffelsfontein and Hartbeesfontein by
failing to “give DRDGold the assurance that it will not be
held responsible for the cost of pumping out the mines after the
takeover”. It claims the two companies are meeting in an
attempt to sort out the snag.
However, senior manager of Resource Protection and Waste Carin
Bosman denies the allegation, telling Mining Weekly Online that
Dwaf is “in no way delaying the take-over process of
DRDGold’s Buffelsfontein and Hartbeesfontein Mines by
Simmers”.
She admits, though, that government remains as concerned as the
union over who should foot the pumping bill as it would be
unacceptable for taxpayers to have to pay for a historic
mining-related liability.
“Directives issued then, on the basis of nobody assuming
responsibility for the historical liability, willstone crushers machine operation crusher mining process result in the
State having to foot the bill for part of pumping costs and
rectification of other pollution costs caused by DRDGold’s mining
activities over the past few decades.”
Should there be no resolution by October 19, it will mean that not
all the conditions of the scheme have been met and the High Court
will then not be able to sanction the takeover.
However, Simmers CEO Gordon Miller is confident that the situation
will be resolved by Wednesday.
He says that there is no issue to resolve, as the two miners have
already agreed that Simmers would take over DRDGold’s current
pumping obligations, once the sale goes through, as DRDGold will
have nothing further to do with the operation.
However, Miller believes that Dwaf does not want to arock crushing costs crusher mining processllow DRDGold
to walk away from the issue, and is standing in the way of final
fulfilment of the takeover scheme of arrangement.
Bosman reports that the department was approached on October 6 by
both miners with a request that a directive issued to DRD to ensure
that pumping in the area continues be replaced by one issued to
Simmers.
The department has, so far, issued four directives to miners in the
area to ensure that they share in the cost of pumping water in the
area.
Previously, this was undertaken by DRD at great cost and
commentators have speculated that this contributed to its
liquidation of the mines‘ holding company.
Subsequently, Harmony Gold has appealed against the directive,
while Stilfontein Mines applied for a liquidation, which was
opposed by the down-dip miner iran quarry crusher supplier stone crusher indiaAngloGold Ashanti and the
department.
Stilfontein’s directors then resigned en masse, leaving the
nonoperational mine company without directors.
No word has yet been received as to whether these directors will be
found to be in contempt of a High Court order that aimed to force
them to comply with Dwaf’s directives.
Dire socioeconomic issues
On October 7, the department responded to DRD and Simmers‘ request,
says Bosman.
Its response was contained in a letter signed by the DG, stating
that “an assurance may be given to Simmer & Jack that,
once they have take over DRDGold, they will only be liable for the
historic, current and future liabilities of DRDGold in so far as
they relate to Buffelsfontein and its subsidiaries”.
stone and concrete crusher crusher mining process
Unfortunately, Bosman adds, it seems that Simmers is only prepared
to take over the current and future liabilities of DRD, and not the
historic liabilities.
“This would imply that the historic liabilities will still
reside with DRD Gold, and that the takeover can go ahead, but that
there will then be directives issued to both DRD and to
Simmers.”
She adds that it seems as if this is unacceptable to DRD, implying
that the miner would not then have any historic liabilities with
regard to the mines.
“This would jeopardise the continued operation of, and
employment at, all mines in the Klerksdorp-Orkney area, not only
the DRD mines, and exacerbate the current dire socioeconomic
situation.”
But Ilja Gaulich, responding on behalf of DRDGold disagrees that
the mine is shirking responsibility, saying that the miner has
“done everything in our power to ensure that the sale process
by the liquidator to the purchaser runs as smoothly as
possible”.
Bosman said that, far from taking a back seat on the issue, it is
as concerned about the issue as the union, and that the net effect
may be a burden on the taxpayer.
“Although the schedule of arrangements for the takeover bid
was already drafted in August, it was never discussed with Dwaf by
any of the parties, despite numerous attempts by Dwaf to facilitate
this, and despite the fact that some of the conditions of the
schedule were subject to compliance with legal
requirements.”
Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans argues that this will result
in a delay that means that the planned takeover will not go ahead
on October 19, which will mean that the entire process would have
to be postponed until the next creditors‘ meeting on December
29.
“Such a delay will leave thousands of mineworkers in
Stilfontein without an income for another three months, which will
exacerbate the already dire conditions that they are
experiencing,” Kleynhans said.
Solidarity appealed to the Department to grasp the urgency of the
situation and to meet with DRDGold and Simmer & Jack as soon as
possible to deal with the delays. Bosman says that such attempts
have been made and that, in the department’s response dated October
7, it “once again pleaded with both Simmers and DRD to
arrange for a discussion”.
“To date, no such arrangements have been
forthcoming.”
Miller disagrees, saying that the firm has attempted to meet with
Dwaf.
„Simmers, together with DRDGold, is in discussions with Dwaf and we
are all committed to a speedy resolution. For Simmers‘ part, our
aim is to begin underground operations as soon as possible so we
can put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Stilfontein.“ Dwaf,
however, has repeated that it wants to give all parties involved
the assurance that it is committed towards finding solutions that
will be in the interest of securing sustainable use of natural
resources while promoting justifiable social and economic
development, especially the retention of employment in the
area.