Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Victor Flores of the HSBC. Please go ahead, sir.
Victor Flores - HSBC
Yeah, thank you, good morning. I have a few questions. First of all, going back to the safety issue, which has, I guess, been in the news a bit not only with Anglogold, but with the platinum mines and with the other gold producers
It seems that the DME has taken a slightly harder line with the mining industry, and is now asking for mines to be shut down, when there are fatalities. Can you give us a sense, as to what you think the DME's change of position represents and how you're doing to deal with it?
Mark Cutifani
Victor, it's Mark Cutifani. Let me just pick that up and then I'll ask Neville or Rob if they want to say anything. Just first question, what impact it's had for us, around 20,000 ounces in the quarter, as a consequence of stopping operations where we've had fatal incidents? It's a complex discussion in South Africa, the one thing I'd say and the one thing that I'd pointed out to people this morning.
The industry has come a long way in 10 years. And I think, the first thing we need to do is make sure that we all reflect on the positives that have been achieved and make sure we understand the learning’s and that's the government, the unions, and the companies. So that was the first point we made.
The second point is that the skills and expertise here in South Africa are quite unique and in my view better than anyone in the world in terms of understanding the issues and understanding where to take the business. At the same time, the government, the unions have constituencies that they need to manage and so we understand their concerns and the positions they're taking.
But at the same time, we've actually stopped operations and done remedial works and reviews of our operations, and so quite frankly, I'd say three-quarters of the time or the output that we've lost has been a consequence of the actions that we've taken to stop the operations to do checks and reviews and peer reviews.
We've brought people from other operations to look at any issues we've had to get different sets of eyes in there to make sure that we're not missing anything or to bring forward ideas in terms of how to take the positions forward.
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