COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Sibanye stands firm on wage offer

A month into a wage strike at Sibanye-Stillwater's gold mines, CEO Neal Froneman said the group would stand firm on its wage offer as the world faces a potential economic downturn.

"It is likely that the world is going into an economic recession in the next short while and we can't let buoyant commodity prices confuse us in terms of wages and salary service," Froneman said in response to questions at the Platinum Group Metals (PGM) industry day on Wednesday.

Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) continue to strike at Sibanye's gold mines in Gauteng and the Free State ever since members downed tools on 10 March.

Against a demand for a R1 000 increase in each year of a three-year agreement for category 4 to 8 workers, Sibanye has offered a R700 increase in each year.

But Froneman said Sibanye would not tolerate increases way above inflation. "The industry as a whole has made major catch-ups over the last few decades of wages and, in our view, the wage profile is fair. So, if you want to create a cost squeeze, then agree to above-inflation wage increases," he said. -Fin24/Bloomberg

Bonus bumps Santam CEO's earnings

In her last full year as Santam CEO, Lizé Lambrechts bagged R17.5 million in total pay, bonus and incentives. This was R6.68 million more than in 2020, the year in which Santam suspended dividends and was in and out of courts seeking clarity on whether it should pay lockdown-related business interruption claims.

That said, Lambrechts' total remuneration in 2021 was lower than in the two years preceding the pandemic. In 2019, she earned R19.17 million, slightly more than the R18.5 million she got in 2018.

Of the R17.5 million total pay the outgoing CEO earned in 2021, R8.1 million was a performance bonus after Santam grew its headline earnings per share by 175% compared to 2020 - from R9.05 to R24.95. The insurer also recovered its net underwriting margin to 8% from 2.5% in 2020, indicating that Santam was paying less from its collected premiums as claims last year.

Lambrechts' guaranteed salary package from the company was R6.17 million. The rest of her pay was in the form of long-term incentives.

Although Lambrechts and her executive team got some flak for approaching the courts about the lockdown claims, she's consistently maintained that it was the right thing to do; otherwise, Santam might not have received the reinsurers' support. She told Fin24 in her exit interview that she believed this was the correct move to ensure Santam's solvency. -Fin24/Bloomberg

BHP secures clean power in Australia

BHP Group has lined up a contract for wind power from Italy's Enel Green Power to meet all the electricity requirements of two of its Nickel West operations in Western Australia, boosting the green credentials of its nickel.

Enel said on Wednesday the 12-year purchase pact would underpin construction of its A$200 million (US$151 million) Flat Rocks Wind Farm Stage 1. BHP is its first customer for the 30-year project.

The wind farm's annual output of 315 gigawatt hours a year would be the equivalent of all the power requirements of Nickel West's Kalgoorlie smelter and concentrator from 2024.

"We are taking great strides in making our operations more sustainable and strengthening BHP's position as a nickel supplier of choice to global customers," BHP Nickel West President Jessica Farrell said in a statement.

BHP signed a pact last year to buy up to half the power needs of its Nickel West refinery in Kwinana from a Risen Energy-owned solar farm in Western Australia. It also has a purchase pact with the Northern Goldfields solar project in the state. -Reuters

MTN blocks Nigerian subscribers

Nigerian authorities have ordered all cell phone companies to block all phones that are not linked to ID numbers from making outgoing voice calls.

On Wednesday morning, MTN confirmed that it has complied with the directive - which affects nearly a third of its subscribers in Nigeria, or 20 million people.

"In line with operating licence requirements, MTN Nigeria has complied with the directive and implemented the restrictions on only outgoing voice calls of affected subscribers. All other services remain available to all subscribers, including those that are yet to submit their National Identity Numbers (NINs),” MTN said in a statement.

Nigeria is the continent's most populous nation and MTN's largest market.

The mobile operator has around 68.5 million subscribers in the country, and it said that around 47 million users - approximately 67% of its subscriber base - submitted their NINs by 31 March. These complying subscribers account for 76% of its N1.7 trillion (R59 billion) service revenue for the 2021 financial year. -Fin24/Bloomberg

Amplats CEO comments on women safety

Natascha Viljoen, chief executive officer of Anglo-American Plc’s platinum business, said women don’t feel safe working underground in South African mines.

While the mining industry’s toxic culture is no secret, an explosive report from Rio Tinto Group in February laid bare the scale and severity of the problem. The abuse of women in mines from Australia to South Africa is increasing investor scrutiny of the world’s biggest mining companies.

"I was not surprised by the Rio Tinto report," Viljoen, CEO of Anglo-American Platinum Ltd., said at a mining conference in Johannesburg on Wednesday. "If anybody tells me we don’t face the same challenge in South Africa, I would say you are naive."

The Rio Tinto investigation found that more than a quarter of female workers had experienced sexual harassment and almost half of all staff have been victims of bullying.

Viljoen said she had discussions with a female employee who expressed a preference for wearing the existing one-piece overalls, even though they were less comfortable than a two-piece alternative. -Fin24/Bloomberg