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South Africa allowed mining companies to resume operations at half their normal capacity as the government takes its first steps to ease a nationwide coronavirus lockdown.
All mining operations must observe strict health protocols, including screening and testing workers for coronavirus, Cooperative Governance Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and Mines Minister Gwede Mantashe said in a televised briefing. The government is concerned about the risks of idling South Africa’s deep level mines for much longer, Mantashe said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa extended a 21-day lockdown by two weeks to the end of this month. Workers in the country’s mines, which employ more than 450,000 people, are particularly vulnerable as they work in cramped shafts that reach more than two miles underground, before returning to overcrowded hostels and shanty towns.
Still, a prolonged shutdown threatens marginal mines, putting more than 10% of the jobs at risk, a lobby group for South Africa’s largest producers said Wednesday.
There must be a “phased recall of workers” as mines ramp up production, said Mantashe, adding that the industry may only be fully operational by next month. “This will help minimize risk of accidents and disasters and it will also help sustain the infrastructure in those mines.”
Read More: World’s Deepest Mines to Take Weeks to Reopen After Shutdown
While mining companies had been given permission to resume partial operations, police blocked employees from reporting for work as the changes hadn’t been gazetted, said Johan Theron, a spokesman for Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. Mining companies in the world’s top supplier of platinum-group metals may take as long as four weeks to ramp up operations fully.
Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, the largest labor body at platinum mines in the country, said restarting operations was premature as the government lacks the capacity to monitor and enforce stringent health regulations.
The government is also easing some sanitation requirements on imported goods and has also ordered fuel refineries to ramp up output as the economy restarts. Some lockdown restrictions may stay beyond April 30, Dlamini-Zuma said.
— With assistance by Paul Burkhardt