Kombat mineworkers have taken the company Trigon Mining Namibia for arbitration at the labour ministry at Otavi after the closure of its mine on 31 January.
The matter is set for a hearing on 26 February.
According to a notice of an arbitration hearing issued by the Office of the Labour Commissioner in Windhoek, the matter is between Nelson Tjiriange and 330 other applicants and Trigon Mining Namibia as respondents.
The Canadian Trigon Metals owns Kombat Mine, with its Namibian partner being businessman Knowledge Katti.
At the centre of the dispute is the closure of the mine on 31 January, leading to the retrenchment of about 500 workers.
The workers and the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) have described the retrenchments as illegal, as the company did not give them 30 days’ notice, as stipulated in the Labour Act.
The union met with Kombat’s management on 30 January and reached an agreement to stop retrenchments until the involved parties negotiates the retrenchment terms.
However, the mine’s management allegedly kept the workers from entering the mine the following day.
MUN then wrote to the minister of labour, industrial relations and employment creation, Utoni Nujoma, to intervene.
“We urgently request an audience with you to discuss the ongoing labour violations at Trigon Metals Kombat Mine, particularly the unlawful retrenchments and subsequent lock-out of over 500 Namibian workers under the directive of vice president for operations Stephanus Muller,” MUN general secretary Filleppus Ampweya wrote.
Trigon chief executive Jed Richardson in a statement says the company has temporarily suspended operations for about six to nine months due to the failure of its two dewatering pumps.
He says dewatering is expected to restart in the third quarter of 2025 once the pumps have been repaired.
Katti says in the statement: “While this temporary pause is a setback, it is also an opportunity to strengthen our foundation for the future.”
– email: matthew@namibian.com.na
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