Anglo American statement re. Anglo American Platinum
12 September, 2012
Anglo American plc draws attention to an announcement issued by Anglo American Platinum Limited (“Anglo American Platinum”) today, the text of which is set out below:
Anglo American Platinum announces suspension of Rustenburg operations to protect safety of its employees
Anglo American Platinum announces the suspension of its Rustenburg platinum operations in order to protect the safety and security of its employees from outside intimidation.
Explaining the decision, Chris Griffith, CEO of Anglo American Platinum, said “Our employees are not on strike. However, in light of the current volatile situation in the Rustenburg area, where our employees, who want to go to work, are being prevented from doing so and are being intimidated by the threat of violence, Anglo American Platinum has decided to suspend its operations in the Rustenburg area with immediate effect. The suspension will continue until such time as operations can be safely resumed.”
Cynthia Carroll, Chairman of Anglo American Platinum, said: “We have taken this decision to suspend our operations in order to help ensure the safety of our employees – our absolute priority. Our people want to work and it is unacceptable that they are not able to go to work safely and instead are facing considerable intimidation. We are in touch with the authorities at the highest level to identify how we can work together with our tripartite partners - government and the recognised labour unions - to achieve a swift and peaceful resolution to these illegal actions.”
Our objective is to safely return to production as soon as possible. Our Rustenburg operations are already under considerable economic pressure and the longer it is necessary to continue this suspension, the greater the risk to their long-term viability.