Gold firms hammered by protest

Cosatu protested in Gauteng, the North West, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape on Wednesday as part of its series of one-day protests in each province, culminating in a nationwide stay-away on August 6.

Trade union members are protesting against rising food, fuel and electricity prices, which are fast eroding their members' monthly income.

Gold Fields said 91% of underground night and morning shifts at its Kloof operations were absent from work, and while attendance in mechanised areas of South Deep was 90%, there was almost no attendance in other areas of the mine.

Gold Fields spokesperson Daniel Thole said it was "too early to assess the impact on production", but added that typical approximate daily production at Kloof was about 95kg.

"We anticipate all operations to be back to normal by tonight," Thole said.

At Harmony Gold Mining Gauteng and North West, mines and surface operations supported the strike.

"We have contractors at work at some of the operations; we also have some of our plants processing for the next 12 hours," said Harmony spokesperson Amelia Soares, who added that mineworkers should return to work tonight to commence the night shift.

She said between 30kg and 32kg of gold would be lost.

AngloGold Ashanti reported little impact with its three major mining operations in the affected areas reportedly unaffected.

- I-Net Bridge