The South African Labour Court has ordered that the country’s mining sector must publish safety guidelines on working amid the Covid-19 pandemic by 18 May, a move heralded as a major victory for mineworkers and unions as South Africa begins to relax its lockdown laws. The Department of Mineral ResourcesContinue Reading
MINING companies are placing an increasing focus on mental health given the significant impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 has disrupted the lives of billions of people globally with devastating health and economic impacts and an associated spike in mental health issues. Lifeline WA reported a huge spike in callsContinue Reading
The Covid-19 pandemic has potential to mask human rights abuses and further worsen poverty among mining communities in parts of Manicaland. These are sentiments expressed recently by rights groups, Centre for Research and Development (CRD) and Amalgamated Chiadzwa Development Trust (ACDT). “As the world is trying to tame Covid 19,Continue Reading
A code of practice setting minimum standards for health and safety in mines during the coronavirus pandemic must be put in place this month, the Labour Court has ruled. In a judgment issued on Friday 1 May, the court set aside government’s decision not to require employers to prepare andContinue Reading
Following the announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa on April 23 that South Africa’s strict lockdown restrictions will start to ease from May, engineering solutions provider Weir Minerals Africa is preparing to resume operations and shares the lessons it has learned before and during the lockdown. In a three phased approach, the company in FebruaryContinue Reading
Morale is reportedly high as Covid-masked and physically distanced South African mineworkers get back to mining underground for companies that have gone the extra mile to ensure that they have been fully remunerated and host communities generously funded during the national lockdown. In a two-hour-plus Minerals Council South Africa onlineContinue Reading
Kalumbila Minerals Limited (KML), a subsidiary of mining giant First Quantum Minerals (FQM), has handed over three new health posts in Kalumbila district to the government. The facilities handed over include a staff house, clinic, incinerator and ablution block at each health post, complete with the much-needed medical equipment. CompanyContinue Reading
With hundreds of people living and working in close proximity, mines – and the camps that house their workers – seemed like fertile territory for the coronavirus to spread. So far, the global mining sector has yet to face the kind of outbreaks that paralyzed U.S. meat plants and wreakedContinue Reading
A gold mine in Ethiopia’s most populous and restive region, Oromia, has been anything but a blessing. Residents claim that contamination from the mine, owned by an Ethiopia-born Saudi tycoon, has led to disastrous health problems. Locals say chemicals used to process gold at the open-pit mine near Shakiso, 222Continue Reading
About half of the total Covid-19 coronavirus cases in the North West, which has almost tripled its numbers in just a week, are in the mining industry. North West had recorded a total of 523 Covid-19 cases by Sunday, while the Minerals Council SA revealed that the mining industry inContinue Reading
