Iron ore weakness to continue into 2025 and beyond, says Fitch Solutions’ BMI
Looking beyond 2024-2025, BMI analysts maintained their view that iron ore prices will likely follow a multi-year downtrend.
On Monday Kumba Iron Ore (PINK: KIROY, JNB:KIO) declared force majeure on deliveries from its Sishen mine in South Africa.
The $18 billion miner listed in Johannesburg said in a statement that that it only has sufficient production from its other mines and stockpiles of finished product to continue supplying its customers until mid-October.
Around 300 employees at Kumba Iron Ore’s Sishen mine in the north west of the country on Wednesday began disrupting operations at the massive Sishen mine which produced over 40 million tonnes last year.
Kumba Iron Ore is losing 120,000 tons of output per day and said its loading operations at Sishen have also been affected by the illegal strike and therefore not all load-out stations are operating at full capacity.
Kumba was generally regarded as immune to the strikes sweeping the mining sector of the African nation because rank and file employees with at least five years at the company in December were given a lump sum of about R345,000 [$41,000] each after taxes as part of a worker share participation scheme.
The strikers are demanding a monthly salary increase of R15,000 (US$1,700) for all Kumba employees over and above what they are already earning.
As many as 75,000 miners, or 15% of the sector’s workers in South Africa, and more than 20,000 transport workers are now on illegal strikes which have been often been accompanied by violent protests.
Labour unrest has now spread into South Africa’s government sector – the Municipal Workers’ Union representing 190,000 workers said on Monday it would launch a strike over pay in the next few days.
The currency, the Rand, fell to a three-year low on Monday at R8.88 to the US dollar.
Image is a file video capture of striking workers at Gold Fields in SA.
3 Comments
james
The kumba miners have no need to strike.
Pete
Really great article, thank you for making this international news.
If only everything that happens in South-Africa could make international news.
These strikings, “Often been accompanied by violent protests” if only it was that subtle.
Employees of companies that refuse to take part in the strikes continue to work, these unfortunate souls have been murdered and brutally beaten, on their way to work by other striking employees. They would either be killed or beaten in to paralysis and then their vehicles would be set on fire or their homes would be burned down. In the case of the truck drivers that continue to go to work, the same thing happens but they have burned down incredible amounts of trucks. Even in the Western Cape, that is least affected, there was 6 trucks burned down last friday, drivers in critical states in the hospital, Yesterday 7 trucks were burned down one driver declared “brain dead” in the hospital. If only all statistics/numbers/news were available to the world.
These aren’t people, they are animals. But it’s fine, let them dig their own wholes.
Let them burn and destroy South Africa down into the ground.
My brother and numerous of my friends who studied BCom. Accounting, studied for 3 years to get a degree, once they start working, doing their “articles” for another 3 years, at an accounting firm, they only get paid R4500 ($500) a month. Now imagine trying to further study for another 3 years doing you honers and all the debt you have to pay back, you can not survive of this kind of money. But do you see young accountants in the streets protesting, striking, killing and burning things down. NO!
These uneducated people in the mines demand a salary of R15 000 a month. Not even our police force or nurses and paramedics, educated people working in the public sector get this kind of money. Do you see them protesting, NO
Truly hope that the send this country into the depths of no return.
Peter Duncan
The Illuminati in Britain and the USA will still regret the day they helped the ANC into power. They kicked the whites out by using the “apartheid” stick as they knew they could then hang on to the resources by bribing the ANC elite. Now the will see their investments crumble.