Local permanent employees part of the fray of Rössing Uranium’s best ever achievement in history
By Clifton Movirongo.
Rössing Uranium revealed that the company had a total of 943 permanent employees at the end of December 2021, 99% of them being Namibians.
This was revealed by Rössing’s Managing Director, Johan Coetzee, at the launch of the company’s 2021 stakeholder report this week.
During the period under review, Rössing exceeded budgeted production targets by a significant margin, as the 2882 tonnes of U3O8 produced during 2021 represented a 16% increase compared to 2020, Coetzee said.
“To produce this product, we had to mine 20.7 million tonnes of rock and process 9.6 million tonnes of ore,” he added, noting that the company boasts a 20% representation of women in its workforce, who are represented across all levels of the organisation.
According to Coetzee the workforce collectively consists of 919 permanent employees including expatriates and 24 fixed-term contractors compared with 955 at the end of the previous reporting year.
“We were able to achieve this excellent performance safely and efficiently through the commitment and hard work of our own employees, as well as the support from the contractors that are delivering services to us,” he added.
In terms of safety, Rössing had an excellent year in 2021, as the company recorded an All Injury Frequency Rate (AIFR) of 0.29, beating the record of 0.31 set in 2020.
According to Coetzee, Rössing remains committed to supporting local suppliers, including spending on developing SMEs.
“As during previous years, most of the procurement expenditure was on local suppliers, amounting to N$2,25 billion or 75% of total procurement expenditure. 14% of procurement spend went to South Africa, whilst the remaining 11% was spent internationally,” he added.
Speaking at the launch, Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, Kornelia Shilunga said having read through the report, it indicated that the 2021 production performance, was the best ever achievement in the history of CNUC.
“That made it the world’s second-largest in the sales volume of natural uranium and Rössing made a significant contribution to such a remarkable result,” she added.
Rössing Uranium in the reported period paid the government N$111 million in royalty tax and N$167 million as a pay-as-you-earn tax on behalf of employees.
