South African Gold Mine Job Cuts Widen With 16,000 at Risk
- Country’s biggest gold miner says 7,400 workers may lose jobs
- With AngloGold cuts, 14% of industry’s workers are at risk
Miners wearing safety equipment walk through an underground tunnel at a gold mine in South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
More than one in 10 gold mining jobs in South Africa may disappear after Sibanye Gold Ltd. announced it’s joining AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. in looking to close unprofitable shafts to stem losses.
Sibanye may cut 7,400 jobs as it prepares to close its Cooke and Beatrix West operations, which account for about 16 percent of its planned gold production, the Westonaria, South Africa-based company said Thursday in a statement. Added to AngloGold’s planned 8,500 job cuts, that means about 14 percent of the country’s gold-mine workers are at risk.