Gold Fields, the world's No. 4 gold producer, is considering laying off about 1,500 workers in South African, a union official said on Wednesday. Oupa Komane, the deputy general secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said the union had resisted the move in a meeting with the company in December. It had asked the group to show why the proposed cuts - mostly in services rather than mining jobs - were needed. Marritt Claassens, a Gold Fields spokeswoman said the company did not want to comment on the proposed cuts. So far more than 14,000 jobs in South Africa's key mining sector are under threat due to the global financial crisis, and analysts predict that even more jobs could be lost. Komane said Gold Field Chief Executive Nick Holland, and Vishnu Pillay, the executive head of the group's South African operations had met the NUM, South Africa's biggest union, just before Christmas. "The intention was to persuade us to agree to the need to cut jobs, mostly in protection services, the company's academy and in stores, not so much in mining itself," Komane said. "The company wants to lay off about 1,500 workers in services. A few of those jobs will be in mining," he said. "We asked for a comprehensive analysis on why they want to retrench (lay off) the workers, and are awaiting a response," he said. "They said reduction of production was the reason for downsizing and rightsizing some of their operations."

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