- Gold Fields (GFI -2.8%) says it has acted in good faith and that the planned cuts of ~1,100 employees, 30% of its workforce, at its South Deep mine are a "last resort."
- The statement follows comments yesterday from Mineral Resources Minister Mantashe that GFI had not acted in good faith in talks with the government about the job cuts, in a setback for negotiations aimed at ending a weeks-long strike.
- GFI has "merely engaged in a tick-box exercise for compliance purposes," Mantashe said after a meeting with company execs including CEO Nick Holland and representatives of the NUM union.
- The miner says South Deep had been losing more than R100M per month prior to the restructuring, which resulted in fewer job cuts than would have been necessary otherwise.
- Meanwhile, GFI says it recently engaged with NUM on a proposed settlement agreement aimed at resolving the strike at South Deep; the union has until the end of this week to accept the proposed settlement.
- Now read: Gold Fields: South Deep Strike Begins, Guidance Lowered
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