The Toronto-based miner said it had made an offer to the workers at the KwaZulu-Natal province operations and was continuing to negotiate with unions for a short-term solution.

With tensions heightened at South African minesites regarding a recent spate of deadly labor strife, Forbes president and chief executive Stephan Theron was quick to issue a statement that downplayed the scope of the latest dispute.

“The situation at the operations is under control and being monitored,” he said.

“The Magdalena open cast mine continues to operate, as well as two of the underground sections at Magdalena, along with the coal preparation plant.”

The news follows immediately on Forbes’ second quarterly report for fiscal year 2013 which marked gross profit at $C2.35 million – a 58% decrease compared to the same period last year.

Run of mine production on the quarter increased 28% compared to August last year, at 414,551 tonnes, but total coal sales for the period slipped 16% year-on-year to 286,186t.

Forbes reported a net loss of $226,000 for the August period compared to the much greater $1.4 million loss the previous year but tallied a 40% year-on-year drop in cash and cash equivalents, with $14.6 million in cash compared to $24.2 million in August 2011.

Magdalena has a 51.3 million tonne measured coal resource and production capacity of 100,000 tonnes of bituminous coal per month.

Aviemore counts a 1.6Mt measured resource and estimates monthly production capacity of 25,000 tonnes of coal.