Retrenchments loom as Tsumeb smelter shuts down

Sinomine Resources Group, the Chinese owners of the Tsumeb smelter, announced last week that the plant is being temporarily shut down."Sinomine Tsumeb Smelter will temporarily suspend copper smelting operations and place the facility under care and maintenance until the market improves," CEO Loggan Lou said in a statement late last week.The smelter currently employs around 600 full-time workers, spokesperson Alina Garises confirmed upon inquiry.According to Sinomine, the global copper market is experiencing increasing smelting capacity in major copper-producing regions, leading to significant overcapacity.“This has resulted in a shortage of copper concentrate, which puts pressure on smelters worldwide, including Tsumeb. Consequently, spot treatment and refining charges (TCRCs) have dropped, affecting operational sustainability,” the statement reads.The company is now aiming for an overall cost reduction of 30–40%, and as part of this transition, a voluntary separation application process for employees will begin, it announced. Garises said this does not necessarily mean a focus solely on cutting labour costs, but rather a general reduction in expenses.However, the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) has rejected the planned process.According to its general secretary Filleppus George Ampweya, Sinomine is pursuing a scheme that is procedurally flawed and in conflict with Namibia’s commitment to job creation, decent work, and the protection of Namibian workers. On Friday, he confirmed to this newspaper that the union had not received any official notice of the layoffs.He said this is a deliberate attempt to undermine the union’s role and violate the recognition agreement between the smelter and the union. He rejected the informal and irregular consultation process, which allegedly excludes meaningful negotiation.“Our efforts to establish structured, good-faith negotiations have been met with unilateral processes, treating the union as a spectator,” Ampweya said, adding that the meetings so far have been “disrespectful, exclusive, and render the union powerless in decisions that directly affect the future of its members.”In a letter to deputy prime minister and mines minister Natangwe Ithete, and also shared with labour minister Wise Emmanuel, MUN demands that formal negotiations with the union begin immediately, that the voluntary separation application period be extended to two years, and that full transparency be applied regarding future structure, staffing models, and skills requirements.“We reject any plan to marginalise Namibian workers under vague and unjustified criteria in favour of foreign nationals,” the letter states.Ampweya has requested a meeting with Ithete before 13 June.Meanwhile, Sinomine plans to upgrade the smelter with new technologies “to enable commercial production of various metals and minerals,” according to their statement. Specifically, Sinomine envisions the recovery of several types of metals at Tsumeb, alkali metal salt production, and also sulphur-burning operations. Regarding the recovery of different metals, Sinomine has already obtained environmental clearance, and the first of three phases of construction at the plant is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of this year. Lou also highlighted the identification of valuable critical minerals on the smelter site.Watch a short video that shows the smelter up close: https://q.my.na/LOP2

Retrenchments loom as Tsumeb smelter shuts down

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-12

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Retrenchments loom as Tsumeb smelter shuts down

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-12

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