Volume 4, Issue 1

January / February 2008

ELECTRIC BLUES!

2008 heralded the age of the “load-shed”, a

euphemism for “power cut” that everybody is

thoroughly tired of hearing about already.

Phalaborwa appears to be having a good week

as this issue of Crush goes to print, but the

constant power interruptions and pressure on

the mines is set to continue.

LA Crushers has built a substantial part of its

reputation on versatility and an ability to with-

stand pressure and adapt to changing circum-

stances. This has stood us in good stead in face of the current difficulties, but the bottom

line is that the production losses being felt by the mines are just as harsh for LAC. 30% of

income from our Mining load & haul department has been lost, and when factoring in all the

production losses across all divisions due to the power outages, LAC stands to have lost a full

20% of the company’s projected income for January 2008. This clearly has significant impli-

cations.

At times like this, every member of the company must pull together and re-double their

efforts to attain maximum productivity whenever the power situation allows. There has never

been room for complacency in our work environment, but now more than ever real commit-

ment is necessary. At an administrative level, LAC has put in place contingency plans utiliz-

ing generators and laptops with 3G to ensure that all essential computer-based functions can

continue. The spirit is good, and management

have been pleased to see that staff are content to

work a degree of flexi-time to ensure that all work

is completed when power is available.

Whatever the political reasons for the power short-

age, it is clearly incumbent upon all businesses to

play their part in trying to avoid further cuts. Staff

are urged to think carefully about their power use

at all times, and ensure that simple precautions

are taken such as switching off lights and air-

conditioners when they are not strictly necessary.

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LOST TIME INJURY-FREE HOURS

LAC’s lost time injury-free hours tally stood at

1,450,000 to 15 January 2008. It’s a new year

and we are making good progress towards the next

target tally of two million lost-time-injury-free hours. It

will however take each and every employee staying

focused and committed to the cause of zero injuries.

MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT TRAINING CONCENTRATES ON PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

On Wednesday 30 and Thursday 31 January Terrapinn Training held

follow-up sessions to consolidate on the Management Development

Programme held in October 2007.

The focus of the 16-

hour follow-up was

on per fo rmance

management, and the

opportunity was

taken to re-design

a nd s t r e aml i n e

LAC’s performance

management evalua-

tion system. Targeted and informative discussion was held to match

industry best practice to the particular requirements of LAC. Participants

were split into groups and a workshop-approach was taken to drawing up and fine-tuning Key Performance Areas (KPAs) and

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for a range of LAC job descriptions.

The next Performance Management assessment round will commence on 01 March 2008, by which time each employee will

have discussed and approved their revised

evaluation document. The first assessments

will be held at the end of May 2008.

A series of comprehensive information

sessions will be held with all employees,

and separate performance management talks

will be included in all future inductions.

LAC is committed to the development of its

staff, and this upgrading of the assessment

system in place will greatly contribute to

that objective.

CONGRATULATIONS! To the Rietspruit Rehabilitation department, who underwent a KPMG-

conducted audit of the ISO 9001, 14001 and OHSAS 18001 systems, as part of BECSA’s Mine Closure

Operations (MCO) section. The audit ensured that MCO retained their certification, and revealed no

major non-conformances. This is an excellent example of client—contractor co-operation and we are

proud to be a successful part of the BECSA team at Rietspruit.

FEBRUARY PPE ISSUES

Please note that Roelene van den Berg at the PPE

Office will be taking leave in late February. As far

as possible, all standard PPE requisitions and col-

lections for February should be done in the week of

11—15 February. Thereafter Jeaneth Mgiba will be

handling PPE issues, and can be contacted on extension 5346.

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PAYROLL OFFICE

MATTERS

The cut-off date for

submitting hours for this

month’s payroll run is

10:00 on 15 February

2008. Please note that

the Payroll Office will

not be closed to enquiries

during the payroll run

this month.

WELCOME!

To Brendon Campbell,

who has joined LAC as

the senior site supervisor

at Rietspruit.

We look forward to

working with you!

“I long to accomplish “I long to accomplish “I long to accomplish “I long to accomplish

great and noble tasks, great and noble tasks, great and noble tasks, great and noble tasks,

but it is my chief but it is my chief but it is my chief but it is my chief

duty to accomplish duty to accomplish duty to accomplish duty to accomplish

humble tasks as humble tasks as humble tasks as humble tasks as

though they were though they were though they were though they were

great and noble.”great and noble.”great and noble.”great and noble.”

Helen Keller

INTERNAL TROPHY AWARDS:

QUARTER ENDING DECEMBER 2007

Managing Director’s Trophy

This trophy is awarded to the department who is judged to have given the best over-all

performance during the period. Whilst safety is indisputably a major element of the

award, all other facets of a department’s performance is taken into account when choos-

ing the best-performing department. For this period the Managing Director has awarded

the trophy to the Civils Department, who were particularly commended for their emphasis

on careful use and care of the machinery. The safety and audit outcomes across all the

Civils sites in the period were good, especially in light of the type of work that was being

undertaken.

Operations Director’s Trophy

This trophy is awarded to the employee who demonstrates individual outstanding achieve-

ment throughout the period. On this occasion Bryan Smith was pleased to award the

trophy to Julius Malatji from the mobile crushing department. Julius’ use of initiative

and dedication was commended. His positive production-related attitude has been an

example to others in his department. By way of example, instances of copper being stuck

in the crusher’s jaws, which leads to loss of production, have greatly reduced since Julius

commenced work as an operator at this plant.

“Skilful pilots gain “Skilful pilots gain “Skilful pilots gain “Skilful pilots gain

their reputation their reputation their reputation their reputation

from storms and from storms and from storms and from storms and

tempests” tempests” tempests” tempests” Epicurus

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CONGRATULATIONS!CONGRATULATIONS!CONGRATULATIONS!CONGRATULATIONS!

to ABET Co-ordinator Nancy Ratopola, whose son

Phetogo Thato was born on 04 January 2008. Nancy

will be enjoying her maternity leave until 01 March

2008 when she will return to work, and the ABET

classes that have been suspended in her absence will

resume around that time.

IN SYMPATHY

We would like to offer heartfelt condolences

from all at LAC to:

� Riana Coetzee, whose mother-in-

law passed away in December;

� Hope Mngoni and Peter Mahumane,

who each lost a brother in Decem-

ber; and

� Malson Pebane, whose brother

passed away in January.

HIV VOLUNTARY TESTING

CONTINUES

Management is greatly encouraged by the

number of employees who have chosen to

get involved in the voluntary HIV testing

scheme. There have been three LAC

sessions so far, and more will be arranged

for the future. Representatives from the

East Paddock Civils site who underwent

testing are pictured above, with their “I

Know My Status—Do You?” t-shirts,

given by PMC to everyone who tested.

For further information please contact HR.

Just blogging along………. Since the inception of “Crush” the Editor has

resisted the nigh-overwhelming urge to indulge in blogging. However, the country’s

Eskom-induced dash to emulate the Middle Ages has proved far too great a tempta-

tion, so blog it is. None of the comments below have been sanctioned by anyone at

LAC, but then welcome to my life. There are many trains of thought on the

electricity debacle, though regrettably none of them appear to belong to anyone

from Eskom or the Government. Minister Sonjica’s exhortation that we should all

go to bed early (whilst most welcome to those of us who are 5’2” and allegedly will attain some growth

as a direct result) fails to take account of the volume of homework that a parent must do after their

kids are asleep, let alone allow for the fact that if we rest so much at home what the hell are we going to

do at work? I think all any of us are asking for anymore (and yes, I know this shows all the spirit of a

sheep) is to know when the power will go off to enable appropriate planning. Unfortunately the Eskom

power cut schedules are about as easy to read as the karma sutra in Sanskrit, and just about as likely

to be executed with any resemblance to the original text. South Africans will adapt marvelously to the

restraints apparent, and an entire industry will spring up around the even toasting of bread with

candles. In the interim, an unacceptably high number of businesses will resort to using the power cuts

as an excuse to slack off on service delivery. I am proud to say that LAC will not be one of them, and I

hope none of us will patronise those that take this way out. The power cuts are indeed a nightmare,

but to those businesses who have not worked out that they can disconnect their switchboards and plug

in a phone to stay in touch, I say you deserve to flounder. South Africans have an indomitable spirit,

hence this need to blame a sole culprit for all ills should be alien.

After all, does everyone not have a mother-in-law? AlysonAlysonAlysonAlyson “A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.” Bob HopeBob HopeBob HopeBob Hope