Gold giant Newmont axes top executive over Covid-19 vaccine resistance
The world’s biggest gold miner, Newmont Corporation, has axed a top US executive for refusing to comply with its Covid-19 vaccination policy.
Gold giant Newmont Corporation has axed one of its most senior executives for refusing to abide by the company’s Covid-19 vaccination policy, paving the way for an Australian to be installed in his place.
Newmont’s North American vice-president, Dan Janney, a former boss of Rio Tinto’s Australian coal mines, was shown the door on Wednesday after a falling-out over the $50bn miner’s policy backing widespread vaccination to combat the pandemic.
“Dan has advised that he will not support or promote the company’s position with respect to Covid-19 vaccination, and therefore he is no longer working for the company,” Newmont chief operating officer Rob Atkinson told staff and contractors in an internal memo, obtained by The Australian.
“We believe each of us has a responsibility to get vaccinated to protect our own health, as well as the health of those around us. We strongly encourage you to become vaccinated as soon as the vaccine is available to you, and we continue to look for opportunities to support government and community vaccination efforts close to our operations.”
Newmont operates the Tanami mine in the Northern Territory, which was hit by a Covid scare in July, and the Boddington operation in Western Australia. It used to own half of Kalgoorlie’s Super Pit before selling its stake to Northern Star Resources.
Newmont’s Perth-based executive, Mark Rodgers, the company’s head of productivity and a former Rio iron ore boss, was named as Mr Janney’s replacement effective immediately.
The dramatic intervention underlines a move by big business to take a tougher stance as the highly infectious Delta variant rips through communities, pushing fruit and vegetable processor SPC to become the first Australian company outside of healthcare to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for not only its staff but anyone who enters its cannery.
The pandemic has also disrupted Fortescue Metals Group, which said some operations had been suspended at its Cloudbreak iron ore mine in Western Australia after a positive Covid case visited the remote operation. No iron ore shipments will be affected while full operations at Cloudbreak were expected to be back online by Thursday night.
Newmont also endured its own Australian scare. More than 700 workers in July were locked down in their dongers in the Northern Territory’s Tanami Desert when a worker tested positive to Covid-19 after being on the site for days.
The Tanami closure represents the first time, since the pandemic began in 2020, that a major Australian mine had been shuttered due to an outbreak and the enforced shutdown caused shockwaves throughout the mining industry.
The world’s biggest gold company set up the Newmont Global Community Support Fund earlier this year to help host communities, governments and employees combat the Covid pandemic and said it spent $US20m in the June quarter on new health and safety procedures, increased transportation and community fund contributions.
Newmont told its global staff on Wednesday the company remained committed to its Covid policy.
“Since the start of the pandemic, every decision we have made has been guided by our values and we have prioritised the health and wellbeing of our workforce and communities above all else. Global public health experts support widespread vaccination as the most important tool available to us to stop the spread of Covid-19.”
Newmont boss Tom Palmer, one of Australia’s most senior global executives, told The Australian at the start of the pandemic that companies must maintain a close relationship with both their workforce and the communities in which they operate if they want a quick business rebound when the coronavirus abates.
The economic uncertainty caused by the coronavirus has helped spur the gold price to new heights above $US1800 an ounce, and Newmont’s assets are run to make cash even if the price falls to $US1200/oz, so its operating mines are still churning out plenty of money.
In Australia other companies have been mulling mandatory inoculations, with Qantas last week calling for jabs to be compulsory across all aviation workers while tech behemoth Microsoft announced this week it would delay the reopening of its US offices by a month and require proof of vaccination for all its employees.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said lockdowns will continue to be needed until 70 per cent of Australians are vaccinated against Covid-19 – a target that seems a long way off, given only 15.5 per cent of the country is currently fully immunised.
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