RAPAPORT... DiamondCorp announced sweeping retrenchments on Monday, saying talks with
its lender and a mining union had failed to end in an agreement.
The miner’s business-rescue practitioner had been in
discussions with the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa (IDC) —
its lender — and the Association of Mining & Construction (AMCU). The talks
followed DiamondCorp subsidiary Lace Diamond Mine (LDM) entering business rescue in November, after torrential rain caused a suspension of
operations.
However, negotiations between the business-rescue
practitioner at Deloitte & Touche and the AMCU “have terminated without a
settlement being reached” on whether to allow care and maintenance of
the Lace mine in South Africa to commence, DiamondCorp said Monday.
“Consequently, effective April 3, all employees will be
retrenched,” the miner said.
Meanwhile, LDM has appointed Lebogang Mpakati of Independent
Advisory as a joint business-rescue practitioner alongside Deloitte’s Daniel
Terblanche.
DiamondCorp’s board has warned that the group will need to
be placed in administration if an “accelerated” funding plan cannot be
completed by mid-May 2017. Avoiding this situation would also require a
significant debt restructuring, as well as a successful exit from the business-rescue
process, the miner pointed out. |
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