Manganese ferroalloys producer Transalloys has fully stopped its ferroalloys production in Mpumalanga on July 1, with no indication of when operations may resume.
The company highlights that the suspension of smelting places about 600 permanent jobs and an estimated 7 000 downstream livelihoods at risk as the company prepares to phase out its plant.
Section 189 consultations and a collective retrenchment agreement have already been concluded.
CEO Konstantin Sadovnik says the company had no option but to shut down its furnaces after years of mounting financial losses, while negotiations over electricity tariffs with State-owned power utility Eskom and government continue.
"It has been a tough uphill battle. Our business has been losing substantial amounts of money for the past three and a half years.
