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Labour strike halts Eramet’s manganese production
07 March 2025
Union workers at Eramet’s high-grade manganese ore mine in **on have gone on strike, halting mining production and slowing exports.The disruptions at the Moanda mine, the world’s largest manganese mine, are already worrying Chinese buyers, who are struggling to obtain sufficient supplies in a tight high-grade ore market.Union leaders said workers will continue to strike “indefinitely” until COMILOG, Eramet’s **on subsidiary, meets its salary demands.“Currently, the washing plant on the mining site is running but not the quarries, so if the strike lingers on, the washing plant won’t have any more feed to run on,” an Eramet official told McCloskey.He added that it was only the main washing plant in operation and not its specialized one that handles "very high-grade ore" for the chemicals market.Shiploading operations have also been impacted by the strike, forcing COMILOG to divert supplies to a third-party port.“We are able to load through another berth, which is owned by other operators…but we cannot even access anymore the main shiploading ore inventories, as demonstrators are prohibiting access,” the official said.The disruptions will make it difficult for Eramet to meet its production target of 6.7-7.2 mt this year, compared to 6.1 mt in 2024.The miner halted production at the Moanda mine for three weeks in November due to weak market conditions.“On the customers’ side, as the news travels fast, our Chinese customers are becoming worried, right at a moment we looked to catch up on delays and provide more ore to a currently high-grade ore starved Chinese market,” the Eramet official said.Manganese ore stocks at Chinese ports are currently at their lowest level since 2019.