{"id":65800,"date":"2024-04-03T18:18:31","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T18:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold"},"modified":"2024-04-03T19:34:02","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T19:34:02","slug":"300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold","title":{"rendered":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. <\/strong><\/span>B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employees this month.<\/p>\n<p>This will result in a huge chunk of workers from the mine\u2019s open pit section being sent home.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, the mine announced its plans to embark upon a phased closure of open mining due to depleted ore reserves, but it did not disclose the number of workers to be affected, as consultations with stakeholders were still ongoing at the time.<\/p>\n<p>The mine\u2019s spokesperson Namasiku Nalisa yesterday confirmed that the voluntary retrenchment process will officially commence this month.<\/p>\n<p>It will be implemented in phases throughout the whole of 2024 until the mine eventually ceases with open pit mining in 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Employing close to 900 workers across its various divisions, the mine had recorded an annual production of 208 598 gold ounces in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cB2Gold expects 300 employees to be impacted by retrenchment throughout 2024 \u2013 be it through the first voluntary phase or the normal retrenchment process. If the required number of personnel is not reached during the voluntary separation process, impacted positions will be identified, and the selection criteria stipulated in B2Gold Namibia\u2019s retrenchment procedure will be applied to identify personnel for compulsory retrenchment,\u201d said Nalisa.<\/p>\n<p>Asked if the voluntary retrenchment process will only affect employees from the open pit mining section, she said those in the open pit mining section will be mostly affected when compared to others.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAffected employees are primarily within the open pit mining department. However, the anticipated retrenchment will impact employees across various departments. It is important to note that this process will take place throughout 2024 as the open pit mining operations wind down,\u201d Nalisa added.<\/p>\n<p>Having reached an agreement with the Mineworkers Union of Namibia (MUN) in December last year, the mine has now set 15 April as the date to commence with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 workers.<\/p>\n<p>According to the latest notice by the mine, the Labour Commissioner has also been notified of all planned developments and dates around the voluntary retrenchment process.<\/p>\n<p>The future<\/p>\n<p>Despite the looming retrenchments, Nalisa maintained that B2Gold remains committed to its investment in Namibia as evidenced by its substantial exploration budget of N$171 million approved for the 2024 financial year.<\/p>\n<p>B2Gold acquired the Otjikoto mine through a merger with Auryx Gold Corp in December 2011, and it received its mining licence in December of the following year.<\/p>\n<p>The construction of the Otjikoto Mine commenced in April 2013.<\/p>\n<p>Within approximately 19 months, the first gold pour occurred in December 2014 \u2013 well ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n<p>At the current production rate, the mine is expected to produce between 180 000 and 200 000 ounces of gold this year.<\/p>\n<p>Production at Otjikoto is expected to be relatively consistent throughout 2024, and it is anticipated to process a total of 3.4 million tonnes of ore at an average grade of 1.77 g\/t with a process gold recovery of 98.0%.<\/p>\n<p>Processed ore will be sourced from the Otjikoto pit and the Wolfshag underground mine, supplemented by existing medium and high-grade ore stockpiles.<\/p>\n<p>Capital expenditures in 2024 are expected to total US$33 million [or N$625.3 million], of which approximately US$32 million [or N$606.4 million] is classified as sustaining capital expenditures, and US$1 million is classified as non-sustaining capital expenditures.<\/p>\n<p>Sustaining capital expenditures are anticipated to include US$32 million for deferred stripping and deferred underground development.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\">Namibia<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Namibia. B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employees this month. This will result in a huge chunk of workers from the mine\u2019s open pit section being sent home. Last year, the mine announced its plans to embark upon a phased closure [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":65799,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5],"tags":[234,236,233],"class_list":["post-65800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-namibia","tag-namibia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>300 job losses imminent at B2Gold - Namibia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employ ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employ ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Namibia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T18:18:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-03T19:34:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"334\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-03T18:18:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-03T19:34:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\"},\"wordCount\":566,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"africa press\",\"Africa Press-Namibia\",\"namibia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\",\"name\":\"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold - Namibia\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-03T18:18:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-03T19:34:02+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employ ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":334,\"caption\":\"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/\",\"name\":\"Namibia\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold - Namibia","description":"B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employ ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold","og_description":"B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employ ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold","og_site_name":"Namibia","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2024-04-03T18:18:31+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-03T19:34:02+00:00","og_image":[{"width":500,"height":334,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold","datePublished":"2024-04-03T18:18:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-03T19:34:02+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold"},"wordCount":566,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg","keywords":["africa press","Africa Press-Namibia","namibia"],"articleSection":["all news","economy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold","name":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold - Namibia","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg","datePublished":"2024-04-03T18:18:31+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-03T19:34:02+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"B2Gold Otjikoto Mine, the country\u2019s largest gold producer, is set to start with the voluntary retrenchment of 300 employ ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nambia\/sites\/29\/2024\/04\/sm_1712160016.950885.jpg","width":500,"height":334,"caption":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/all-news\/300-job-losses-imminent-at-b2gold#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"300 job losses imminent at B2Gold"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/","name":"Namibia","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65800","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65800"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65800\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65800"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65800"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/namibia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65800"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}