AFRICAN
TOUCH
REJUVENATES
AUSSIE
GOLD
MINES
THE VERY DAY
Gold Fields was handed the
keys to the Granny Smith, Darlot and Lawlers
gold mines in October 2013, the 800-odd
employees across the three sites were kitted
out in new yellow PPE clothing complete with
Gold Fields’ distinctive lion’s head logo.
You might not consider replacing the
orange Barrick Gold uniforms to be a
priority when taking over US$270 million
worth of mine assets, however such was the
importance of immediate cultural change
within Gold Fields’ newly acquired workforce.
“In my experience, if you don’t move
quickly you lose the opportunity to
implement cultural change and to make
strong improvements early,” explains
Richard Weston, Gold Fields Australasian
executive vice president.
It’s been just over 12 months
since South African-based
Gold Fields took over three
underperforming West
Australian gold mines,
significantly increasing its
investment portfolio and
workforce Down Under.
As the ambitious producer
enacts its plan to turn the
mines into efficient, world-
class assets,
Resource
People
explores the change
management, cultural
and community strategies
behind the takeover.
“You need to change the systems as
quickly as you can, otherwise the workforce
sees the new operator as being no different.
So as soon as we gained access to the
three mine sites, the first thing we did was
change the colour of the PPE and ensure
everyone had Gold Fields clothing from day
one. The other priority issue was transferring
all employees across to Gold Fields
employment conditions and contracts.
“Then, during the first week we
started putting technical review teams
onto the three sites to discuss with
the management and employees how
we could improve the operations and
what they needed to improve. We
said we’ll give you capital but we want
improvements, and that has worked well
SUMMER 2014-15 RESOURCE
PEOPLE
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COVER STORY
6
