Mantengu workers face salary delays

Financial disclosures and production shortfalls raise questions about the miner's stability and cash flow

- Lenin Ndebele

Deep in the chrome-rich belts of South Africa, the machinery at Mantengu Mining's Langpan Mine has of late been accompanied by uneasy silence - not from a lack of ore but from the growing anxiety of its workforce that hasn't been paid January salaries.

Instead of bank deposit notifications, employees were met with notices in an internal memo that their salaries would not be paid on time.

The delay was attributed to the company's failure to meet production targets.

"Unfortunately, the production figures forecast were not met, meaning we fell short of our targets," Anton Mecchi, the acting chief executive of Langpan Mining Co, said in a letter addressed to employees.