World’s leading platinum producer says it can vaccinate 18,000 people a day.
Sibanye-Stillwater will be administering Covid-19 vaccines at four medical facilities at the SA Gold and SA PGM Operations, in Marikana in the North West, Libanon and Driefontein in Gauteng and Beatrix in the Free State.
Neal Froneman, CEO of Sibanye Stillwater, says: “We are pleased to have received accreditation of our medical facilities in three provinces, which will allow us to deliver on our commitment to assist our stakeholders and government in administering vaccines to employees, their families and doorstep communities.”
“The safety and health of our employees and the wider communities in which we operate are paramount. We welcome the role that we can play in assisting the government with the vaccine rollout. This is an extremely important process which we are thrilled to be commencing,” he adds.
For now, vaccinating in the workplace will be in line with the national plan, meaning that currently, only people over the age of 60 and the remaining healthcare workers can get their jabs until 15 July when people over 50 join the programme. The world’s top platinum producer will also have to rely on the availability of vaccines.
It is reported that Sibanye hasn’t yet received a vaccine allocation and is working with government to secure vaccines. Once the vaccines are available, the mining company will start focusing on its workers, and plans to extend the drive to their families.
Sibanye says it has also seen a rise in infections under the current third wave, and the death rate among its workers remains lower than the national levels.
James Wellsted, head of investor relations at Sibanye, earlier said the mine had 44 clinics and healthcare facilities in its operations, Fin24 reported.
According to James, the company estimates that it could vaccinate 18,000 people per day, with the entire workforce of about 80,000 people taking a week to be vaccinated. Using those estimates, Sibanye could vaccinate 250,000 people within a couple of weeks, and it is busy training its staff to be able to deliver on those estimates.
He estimates it will cost about R200 million to get 250,000 people vaccinated by Sibanye.
The Minerals Council has previously noted that about 58 mining companies had applied to register as primary vaccination sites, and a further 76 as secondary sites.
