Strike Halts Uranium One Operations

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Uranium-miner Uranium One has temporarily suspended mine operations at its troubled Dominion project, near Klerksdorp, in South Africa, after it was unable to reach an agreement with striking workers.

The miner said in a statement to shareholders on Monday that the move follows labour disruptions last week, which had culminated in a general illegal strike.

Most of the labour force at Dominion had refused to return to work, despite a court order, issued by the Labour Court of South Africa on October 9, which prohibited the continuation of the illegal strike.

Subsequently, Uranium One had, on Friday, started issuing termination notices to the striking workers at Dominion.

"In the meantime, the company is actively exploring all options available to it at Dominion," the company said in a statement to shareholders.

On October 8, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) had reported that workers were failing to go to work at the project, as they were being threatened by a group of armed men.

The group of armed men were recently dismissed by the mine and had started calling themselves the "crisis committee", said the NUM.