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Johannesburg - Medium-tier gold producer DRDGold said on Friday it would not raise its wage offer to miners despite losing a court bid to stop a strike by workers at its mines.
DRDGold spokesperson James Duncan said the company would use the law to break the strike, which started at the company's Blyvoor mine on Tuesday night, and at Crown mine on Wednesday.
Output from the mines has been affected, but processing of gold from stockpiled ore was continuing.
"We are headed for a classic stalemate. The company is not going to make the first move, we will do everything possible using the law to break the strike," Duncan said, but declined to say what steps the gold producer would take.
The National Union of Mineworkers is demanding a 13% pay increase, nearly twice the country's inflation rate of 6.7%. DRDGold has offered an increase of between 4% and 7%.
Duncan warned that a prolonged strike could affect the company's operations and put the miners' jobs at risk.
A NUM spokesperson, Shane Coshane, said DRDGold would be forced to return to negotiations.
"They lost the case and as a result the strike continues. As long as workers are on strike, they (DRDGold) have to come to the (negotiating) table and probably by Monday they will do that," Coshane told Reuters.
Larger producers Harmony Gold, Gold Fields and AngloGold Ashanti have reached a two-year wage settlement, paying workers in different categories increases of up to 10.5%.
- Reuters