By: Natasha Archary

Impala Platinum Holdings Limited (Implats) has confirmed that the unprotected underground protest at its Bafokeng Rasimone Platinum mine has ended.
Approximately 2 205 miners staged an underground protest from Monday, 18 December until Wednesday, 20 December.
Disgruntled mineworkers were protesting over disagreements of their profit share, pension fund balances and bonuses being taxed after the recent change in ownership at the mine.
All miners returned to the surface safely, and Implats says it will be shifting its focus to safely completing the planned operational shutdown at Impala Bafokeng ahead of the Christmas break.
This includes required disciplinary processes and securing the sustainability of the operation amid the low metal price environment.
“By 14h50 on Wednesday, 20 December all North Shaft employees had returned to surface and by 17h05 all South Shaft employees had returned to the surface, with all 2 205 employees who initially participated in the protest now safely on the surface.
Impala Bafokeng management’s primary focus over the past few days was on ensuring the health, safety and security of our employees who were participating in the illegal protest. Implats is grateful the protest action concluded swiftly, and without safety incidents given it occurred in the operation’s underground workings, in breach of safety regulations, and against a background of increasing incidents of a similar nature at other mining companies.”
Implats is pleased to report that all the employees who were engaged in an illegal and unprotected underground protest at Impala Bafokeng have exited the underground workings and returned safely to surface. Please read the statement for more. pic.twitter.com/LUoncRmnov
— Implats (@Implats) December 20, 2023
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