South Africa's National Union of Mineworkers said Pan African Resources Plc informed the union that the company will lay off 1,722 employees at its Evander gold mine in South Africa out of the operation's 1,812 workers, Reuters reported Feb. 25.

Pan African was not immediately available for a comment, but the union said the planned job cuts come were attributed to the mine's deteriorating and inadequate infrastructure, rising operating costs and low gold prices. In March 2017, the miner announced the retrenchment of about 30% of Evander's employees to reduce fixed costs at the mine.