Barry Davison, chairman of Anglo Platinum and outgoing President of the South African Chamber of mines, has said it is time the government intervened in order to help stabilise the rand.

Following President Mbeki call to the industry to “add substance” to its warnings, Davison wrote to the President in mid-October expressing the Chamber’s eagerness to discuss the government’s concerns about job cuts caused by the strong rand.

Speaking at the chamber's annual general meeting in Johannesburg, Mr Davison sought to outline the problems a strengthening rand could cause the mining industry.  Highlighting the 50% improvement in the rand’s value since December last year, Mr Davison said, ‘A persistently over-firm rand will have severe negative long-term consequences for employment at existing mining operations’.

'We all know that prices of commodities and exchange rates tend to overshoot on the up and downside but what the [mining] industry seeks to encourage is a sensible and measured approach by government in establishing a stable yet acceptably competitive level for the currency,' Mr Davison added.

We very much look forward to the fixing of a date to pursue these discussions [with government], and I can assure the President of a creative and productive approach,” Davison said. “It is imperative that we all fully understand that there are now sectors of our industry that are simply unable to cope.”

Mr Davison noted the platinum price had dipped 9 percent below its 2002 average in rand terms despite 23-year dollar price highs.