Kumba’s Namibian Mining Strike Ends in One-Year Agreement

The Mineworkers’ Union of Namibia (MUN) ended a 13-day strike last Friday, 10 November, by 360 miners at the Kumba Resources’ Rosh Pinah zinc and lead mine in the south of the country.

Miners won salary increases of 10% for workers in lower pay grades and 9% for those in higher grades. MUN General Secretary Joseph Hengari said miners also won a benefit of one month’s salary when they resign or are retrenched. The collective agreement is for one year.

“At first, the company refused to move from its salary position,” said Hengari. “So the final settlement is an improvement over what the company originally offered.” South African-based Kumba had offered miners wage increases of 8% and 9%, while workers were seeking an across-the-board increase of 13%.

Besides a pay increase reflecting the high prices and demand for Rosh Pinah’s major export, zinc concentrates, strikers were seeking better housing subsidies and relocation allowances. They were also seeking to bridge the parity gap that exists between Kumba’s workers in South Africa and Namibia.

Kumba is a Black Empowerment Enterprise of South Africa that was spun off from the global mining house, Anglo American. The company is currently undergoing a further split, separating some of its iron ore operations from base metal and coal operations. The latter, which will be called Exxaro Resources, will be the company that the Rosh Pinah operations will be part of. Anglo American will still control 19% of Exxaro.

Rosh Pinah produces 70,000 tonnes of zinc concentrates annually, the majority of which is exported to South Africa for processing. It also produces 28,000 tonnes of lead. Kumba announced during the strike last week that a special “unbundling dividend” of the company will occur shortly, based on surplus cash after costs.

The MUN also negotiated salary adjustments recently for some 100 uranium miners who had engaged in a two-day work stoppage at Roessing Uranium in late October. Roessing Uranium accounts for 7% of the world’s uranium supply.