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Business Reporter
The Associated Mine Workers’ Union is despatching a team of officers to the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation-owned Sabi Gold mine to establish the state of affairs at the mining entity whose 450 employees face a bleak future.Operations at the debt-ridden mine ceased on May 30, when its equipment was attached by the Zvishavane Deputy Sheriff in April over a debt owed to a local construction company, Drummond Transport and Quarry Construction.
The Deputy Sheriff in April attached a company bus, two Toyota Hilux vehicles, a Nissan Hardbody truck and a Nissan UD to settle the debt the gold miner owed Drummond Transport and Quarry Construction for services rendered.
Sabi hired excavators and other mining machinery from Drummond in April last year. The mining company allegedly failed to pay for the hired machinery and was dragged to court in March this year.
On June 2 the mine had its power supplies cut off over an undisclosed debt.
The association’s president Tinago Ruzive told Business Chronicle that employees were in the dark as what the next course of action will be.
“We are sending our officers to go talk to the employees whose future is very bleak. The employees have not been told what will happen to them.
“Before the closure they had already been complaining about the erratic payment of their salaries.”
Ruzive said indications were that most gold mining companies had been affected by the decline in the price of bullion on the international market.
“We understand most gold mines are finding it difficult to break even due to a slump in international gold price,” he said.
The price of bullion on the international markets has been on a decline from highs of $1,900 per ounce at one time to around $1,200.
derick.khumalo