Newmont Ghana’s ongoing work to rationalize its cost structure and improve business efficiency is expected to affect some of its programmes and the size of its workforce.
The company, in its latest press release issued in Accra, said about 300 employees would be sacked by the end of the fourth quarter of this year.
The statement said the employee reduction reflects the company’s efforts to improve its increasing cost structure while creating value for its stakeholders.
The company noted that it had notified the Chief Labour Officer and began discussions with the Ghana Mine Workers Union on a Memorandum of Understanding to outline the pay-out package for the affected employees.
“Ongoing price volatility and steadily rising costs create intense pressure for us to continuously improve our efficiency and effectiveness to ensure our operations are profitable and sustainable. We face some very difficult decisions in streamlining our organization and are committed to treating people fairly throughout this process,” said Dave Schummer, Regional Senior Vice President – Africa Operations.
With the plummeting gold price on the world market, most mining firms are taking steps to reduce cost of operations.
Goldfields Tarkwa, Ghana’s largest employer and taxpayer, recently noted that due to the falling prices of gold on the world market, it was considering shutting down completely its Heap Leach Plant at the Tarkwa Site.
This was because the company, through the leaching process, was able to derive 50 percent of probable reserves of gold.
In 2012, Goldfields estimated a loss of about 15,000 ounce of gold production or 10 percent of the mine’s quarterly production after it closed its heap leach facilities on July 16 2012 in compliance with a directive from EPA.
However, Goldfields Tarkwa’s carbon-in-leach plant, which produces about 75 percent of the gold at the mine, was not affected.
It is unclear which mining companies would follow in the heels of Newmont Ghana and lay-off its workers.
Source: Daily Guide
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