Gekopieër
Beeshoek Mine closure: Drilling company saves 65 employees from retrenchment
Solidarity, in close cooperation with the drilling company Booysens Bore, has found new employment opportunities for a large number of the company’s workers who would otherwise have faced unemployment following the closure of Assmang’s Beeshoek iron ore mine near Postmasburg in the Northern Cape.
Beeshoek Mine was forced to cease operations due to the ongoing economic crisis affecting both the mine and the broader industry. This decision followed the financial difficulties experienced by its only major client, ArcelorMittal South Africa, which disrupted its agreement with Beeshoek.
The development also had implications for 95 employees of Booysens Bore, for whom alternative employment opportunities had to be found, as the company’s own contract with Assmang Beeshoek was set to expire on 31 October.
Booysens Bore has been operating at Beeshoek for nearly four decades. Nevertheless, the company’s management decided to accommodate all employees willing to work outside Postmasburg by redeploying them elsewhere.
In this way, 65 employees were redeployed by Booysens Bore to its branches in Kathu and Kuruman, after consultation with Solidarity, while some were placed in alternative roles.
According to Adéle Rossouw, Solidarity’s organiser for the mining sector, the retrenchment will therefore affect only 23 of the 95 employees, while 65 remain employed by the company. Seven employees opted to resign.
Among the 23 affected employees, some declined to relocate outside their immediate area. Rossouw nevertheless described this agreement as a major victory for labour relations.
She praised Booysens Bore’s commendable attitude towards its employees:
“The employer’s approach was to protect its workers from unemployment as much as possible. With the closure of Beeshoek Mine, the Postmasburg community faces a devastating wave of job losses.
“Yet Booysens Bore took this reality into account, and the focus throughout the retrenchment process was consistently on how to save jobs at all costs, rather than on how to dispose of workers. This attitude from the employer is commendable.”
She added that this victory for labour relations is the result of a crisis in which the employer and Solidarity, as a trade union, worked closely together to find the best possible solution for the employees.
The key message here is that unions and employers do not always have to see each other as enemies – there is great strength in collaboration.
Solidarity was therefore able to manage this challenging process, under the supervision of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), in good faith with the employer.
This outcome can be regarded as a ray of hope amid the difficult circumstances brought about by the mine’s closure, which will impact hundreds of workers and their families. Beeshoek Mine will cease operations by the end of November 2025.
When the mine finally closes its doors, the jobs of approximately 688 employees will be affected, and the Postmasburg community will be irrevocably changed.
