Gold One can sit out a long strike

Gold One can sit out a long strike - Froneman

[miningmx.com] -- GOLD ONE is producing gold profitably with just 20 percent of its staff complement and can sit out a strike that is going into its fourth week at the flagship Modder East gold mine, said CEO Neal Froneman.

"With 200 employees of our 1,000 we are producing probably just a little less than half of the gold. I think the important thing from a market perspective is we are producing that gold profitably," he said on SAfm Market Update.

"So we would and could - if we had to - sit this out for a long time. Clearly that's none of the parties' intention, and I do think in the next week to two weeks we'll resolve the impasse," he said.

The impasse revolves around a wage dispute.

"The issue really is that NUM is demanding a bigger increase than we are willing to pay, and we are not prepared to move on that," Froneman said.