Lonmin appealed last night to its striking staff to come back to work in the aftermath of the escalation of the violence at its Marikana mine in Rustenburg that pushed the death toll to 44 in the past week.
As the situation at the mine, north-west of Joburg, appeared to be calming down yesterday, Lonmin warned workers on strike they risked causing widespread damage to SA’s reputation.
Simon Scott, Lonmin’s chief financial officer, said: “A stable mining sector is vital to the economic future of this country.
“If the industry [mining] continues to be damaged by illegal actions it is not just the economy that suffers, but all our employees, their families and dependants.
“We need our employees to come back to work and we need to get mining again,” Scott added, before expressing his “sincere condolences to the families and friends of all those employees who had lost their lives”.
Furthermore, Scott pledged to do everything he could to mend relationships with staff, unions and local communities.
“We must start to rebuild those relationships, starting today, building back trust and trying to move forwards,” he said.
The company also raised concerns it might struggle with its debts, saying it would be closely monitoring its borrowings in the light of the disruptions. – The Independent