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14 July, 2005
The on-again, off-again bid by NUM in South Africa to save jobs at Harmony Gold Mining Ltd. is on again as the two sides this past weekend signed an agreement preventing closure of six mineshafts targeted by the company. In April, the firm agreed on a process to continue employment for 5,000 miners, but that was broken in late June when Harmony insisted the jobs must go. The latest agreement calls for a plan to integrate both marginal and profitable shafts, thus creating new job opportunities. “We are in the process of creating history with this agreement,” said NUM Gen. Sec. Gwede Mantashe. “The fact that we ensured that the shafts are not closed augurs well for our goal to save jobs.”