Category Archives: Bench Marks Foundation

A Review of Platinum Mining in the Bojanala District of the North West Province

A Review of Platinum Mining in the Bojanala District of the North West Province

by the Bench Marks Foundation, August 2012

Regarding Lonmin’s operations some of the key problems highlighted by the report include a high level of fatalities, very poor living conditions for workers, community demands for employment opportunities and the impacts of mining on commercial farming in the area. Almost a third of Lonmin?s workforce is contracted labour, and community demands for employment have lead to protests and unrest. The company was also in a union dispute, after which Lonmin dismissed 9 000 workers at the Marikana operations.

Commercial farming in the Marikana area has been negatively impacted upon by the mining activities here. As the mines buy more land, the farms that remain become isolated, and suffer under the environmental impacts of mining on the quality of the water sources in the area.