In a bid to cut costs, optimise resources and ensure survival amid economic deterioration, local platinum mining giant Zimplats Holdings Ltd will today start voluntary retrenchments. This comes as the economy is further sinking amid renewed currency volatility and surging inflation. Companies have retrenched, downsized and shut down on a massive scale in recent years as Zimbabwe underwent accelerated de-industrialisation and slow economic implosion. The voluntary retrenchment approach will apply before compulsory retrenchments which may come depending on the response and effectiveness of the process starting today.
Zimplats Chief Executive Alex Mhembere said retrenchments were necessitated by the “difficult operating environment that we face”. “While our cost containment and cash preservation programmes yield expected results, the company’s situation remains difficult and therefore additional measures still need to be undertaken,” said Mhembere, who is also chairman of of Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Pvt) Ltd, Zimplats Holdings’ operating subsidiary.
“One of the measures that the company will implement is a voluntary retrenchment exercise for all employees wishing to be considered.” The Australian Stock Exchange-listed mining house’s cost rationalisation strategy involves a series of actions aimed at cutting costs, optimising resources, and repositioning the company for stability and long-term sustainability. The ultimate goal is to steer the business away from the risks of further decline, towards a path of stability and growth.
Zimplats Holdings is owned by South Africa’s Implats. It is located on the Hartley Geological Complex on the Zimbabwean Great Dyke about 150 kilometres south-west of the capital Harare. Zimplats operates an opencast and an underground mine at Ngezi.
Company profile
Zimplats Holdings Limited is a Guernsey-based platinum mining company engaged in producing platinum group metals (PGM) and associated metals, such as nickel, gold, copper, cobalt and silver mined from the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe.
The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company operates mines in Ngezi and has processing plants in Selous and Ngezi. The Company, through its subsidiary Zimbabwe Platinum Mines (Private) Limited, is engaged in exploiting the ore bodies located on the Great Dyke in Zimbabwe. It operates five underground mines which supply ore to three concentrator modules (two at Ngezi and the third one at Selous).
It holds title to two mining leases namely Mining Lease Number 36 (ML36) which covers the Hartley area incorporating the Selous Metallurgical Complex (SMC) concentrating and smelting operations and Mining Lease Number 37 (ML37) covering the Ngezi mining and processing operations. The local mining giant sells white matte, which consists of platinum, palladium, rhodium, iridium, ruthenium and associated metals.
Source: NewsHawks
