Mupane handholds new contract miner

CHAKALISA DUBE
Staff Writer | Friday June 14, 2013 00:00

Galane Gold, Mupane's owner, engaged GNS Projects to conduct 100 percent of its mining in March, citing the high cost of doing the activities in-house. The move resulted in the retrenchment of 90 workers who worked in Mupane's mining and geology department.Prior to March, 70 percent of mining activities at Mupane were outsourced to GNS Projects, with the balance performed in-house. Mupane Gold mining manager Dominic Kabamba told BusinessWeek that the producer was collaborating with the contract miner. He revealed that due to challenges in mobilising resources and expertise to executive its mandate, GNS Projects had mined 20,000 tonnes instead of the set target of 39,000 tonnes per day.

'They are still mobilising resources including expertise after we awarded them a tender to do 100 percent mining for us,' he said.'Because they are still mobilising, we have been assisting them manage some of their operations at the mine'. Kabamba added that GNS Projects were also experiencing problems in sourcing funds that would allow them to efficiently manage operations at the mine. 'Banks are cautious to give mining companies loans due to the unstable economic conditions and unsteady mineral prices around the world,' he revealed.'For this reason, it has been difficult for GNS to secure funds to efficiently manage their operations. That is why we do assist them with some resources and technical expertise. It however does not mean that they are failing. We hope that as metal prices improve, banks will be able to fund the company to improve its efficiency at the mine.'

The mining manager added that GNS Projects was making a transition from construction to mining and thus needed Mupane's assistance to familiarise itself with operating in the mining environment.GNS Projects reportedly fared well when doing the 70 percent of mining for Mupane, which is said to have prompted the gold miner to award the company the tender to do 100 percent of the mining activities.  At the Francistown Labour Office recently, Mupane and its former employers failed to resolve a dispute stemming from the retrenchment. The two parties were expected to graduate their disagreement to the industrial court. While the mine is adamant it followed the right channels in the retrenchment, unionists say the employer breached some conditions of a redeployment and retrenchments agreement signed some few years ago.