NUM shocked at news of closure of Optimum Cola mine

Lusanda Bill
31 January 2015

The National Union of Mineworkers said it is shocked and sadden by the Glencore’s decision to close down Optimum Cola mine in Mpumalanga.

NUM Regional Secretary Stanley Lebelo said the proposed closure of these operations would affect approximately 1 000 permanent employees and 500 contractors.

Lebelo said this has come as a shock to us especially that the company is not making any profit as they have been making a loss since 2012.

“The question we are now asking ourselves is why were we not warned earlier about the financial state of the mine so that we could have assisted or explored options that could have saved the company” Lebelo added.