By Renee Bonorchis
Feb. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Gold Fields Ltd., Africa’s second- largest producer of the metal, is unlikely to improve efficiency by moving to a 6-day working week because the productivity of miners will wane as fatigue sets in, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets said.
“I don’t think a 6-day work week will work,” London-based RBC mining analyst Leon Esterhuizen said in an e-mailed response to questions yesterday. “The fact is that this is a very bad working environment and people that do this work really need the two days off.”
Gold Fields yesterday said it started talks with labor unions about a longer working week to help make up production lost because of Christmas and Easter holidays, and due to safety and other stoppages. The aim is to improve efficiency and avoid possible job cuts, the company said in a statement.
Worker fatigue may not be a major concern because under the proposed plan, miners would work five shifts fewer every 14 weeks than under the current model, while earning the same, Gold Fields spokesman Julian Gwillim said by phone from Johannesburg.
Gold Fields missed its production target in the second quarter after some of its mines were temporarily closed after six workers were killed in fatal accidents. South Africa, the second-biggest gold producer, has the deepest and some of the most dangerous mines in the world.
“We are in support of the 6-day working week as long as there are no job losses,” said Reint Dykema, spokesman for the Solidarity labor union, by mobile phone today. “With electricity prices going up and safety stoppages, some marginal mines are under pressure and as a union we must be proactive and protect our members.”
Gold Fields has lost 18 percent of its value in the past 12 months with only AngloGold Ashanti Ltd. making any gains on the five-member FTSE/JSE Africa Gold Index. Gold Fields rose 3 percent to 85.73 rand as of 2:12 p.m. in Johannesburg.
--Editors: Alastair Reed, John Deane.
To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Bonorchis in Johannesburg at +27-11-286-1925 or rbonorchis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at +33-1-5365-5063 or fconnelly@bloomberg.net Edward Evans at +44-20-7073-3190 or eevans3@bloomberg.net
