Bleak Christmas as workers retrenched at Glencore’s ferrochrome smelters
Employees at Glencore-Merafe Chrome’s Wonderkop and Boshoek smelters face a bleak festive season with the announcement of their retrenchment earlier this week.
These workers were handed retrenchment notices on 1 September 2025 with Glencore adding that “retrenchment was not inevitable”.
“Over the last three months, [Glencore-Merafe Chrome] has continued to review its operating procedures to ensure it has been doing what it can to minimise any impact from the Section 189 process. This has included multiple meetings with the relevant government departments, unions and employees.
“Despite its engagement with government no viable interventions or solutions have been presented to address the severe challenges impacting our ferrochrome operations, the most pressing requirement being the provision of a competitive energy tariff.
“As a result, in the absence of any viable solution from the government, retrenchments will commence within the next couple of weeks alongside the placing of the Wonderkop and Boshoek smelters on care and maintenance,” Glencore stated.
Trade union, Solidarity, estimates that 2,425 direct jobs and more than 17,000 indirect jobs may be lost through this process.
In its tersely worded statement Glencore acknowledged that Wonderkop and Boshoek smelters, situated in Rustenburg, are cornerstones of local economic activity and that their closure “will result in significant job losses (with a) devastating impact on employees, their families, and the surrounding communities”.
