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Johannesburg - Gold mine workers and the major producers were due to meet at 10:00 on Friday for wage talks, in a bid to end a strike that could halt daily output worth up to $25m at a time when the price of bullion is near record highs.
Some 100 000 workers at AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG], Gold Fields [JSE:GFI], Harmony Gold Mining Company [JSE:HAR] and another smaller mining group downed tools on Thursday, demanding wage hikes of 14% against offers of 7% to 9%.
The country's annual "strike season" is in full swing, with unions demanding 10-15% pay rises, well above inflation of 5%. The strikes have hit chemicals, coal and diamond mining, with worries about economic damage increasing the longer they last.
Mining stocks have taken a beating this week in the world's top platinum producer, which is also a major gold and coal exporter, and could fall further. But the labour woes were seen as having limited impact on the South African rand and bond markets.
"The strikes have become part of the investment climate in this country and you know it is temporary and not structural," said George Glynos, managing director at financial consultancy ETM.
"But if you look at the gold mining shares, you would expect them to lose because it has a direct impact on their productivity," he said.
Shares of gold miners have been hit this week on worries of lost output. South Africa's index of gold mining stocks is down 5.3% so far this week, even as the price of gold stays near a record high as investors seek safe havens in the US and European debt crises.
Labour strife has ended on one front. Petroleum workers accepted a deal that ended an almost three-week strike in the industry which had slowed commerce and caused panic buying at the pumps in Africa's largest economy.
A strike in the country's coal fields was entering its fifth full day with no immediate end in sight, but talks on Thursday produced some progress.
"The talks in the collieries remain inconclusive. We have said we need more time to talk to our members," spokesman Lesiba Seshoka of the National Union of Mineworkers told Reuters.
"They have revised their wage offer, which I cannot disclose at this point in time. It is a matter of us hearing what our members have to say," he said.
The Chamber of Mines is negotiating on behalf of the coal companies which include Anglo Thermal Coal SA, Delmas Coal, Exxaro Resources [JSE:EXX], Kangra Coal, Optimum Coal and Xstrata Coal.
There is little political will to rein in unions. The ruling African National Congress is in a governing alliance with the country's biggest labour federation Cosatu, which has supplied it with millions of votes.
At Emalahleni on Thursday, 100km east of Johannesburg, thousands of striking coal workers vented their anger near an Anglo American [JSE:AGL] operation.
"I've worked 38 years for this company and I still get only R3 700 a month. How am I supposed to survive with that? And my family?" said Joseph, 55, who declined to give his last name.
Some 100 000 workers at AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG], Gold Fields [JSE:GFI], Harmony Gold Mining Company [JSE:HAR] and another smaller mining group downed tools on Thursday, demanding wage hikes of 14% against offers of 7% to 9%.
The country's annual "strike season" is in full swing, with unions demanding 10-15% pay rises, well above inflation of 5%. The strikes have hit chemicals, coal and diamond mining, with worries about economic damage increasing the longer they last.
Mining stocks have taken a beating this week in the world's top platinum producer, which is also a major gold and coal exporter, and could fall further. But the labour woes were seen as having limited impact on the South African rand and bond markets.
"The strikes have become part of the investment climate in this country and you know it is temporary and not structural," said George Glynos, managing director at financial consultancy ETM.
"But if you look at the gold mining shares, you would expect them to lose because it has a direct impact on their productivity," he said.
Shares of gold miners have been hit this week on worries of lost output. South Africa's index of gold mining stocks is down 5.3% so far this week, even as the price of gold stays near a record high as investors seek safe havens in the US and European debt crises.
Labour strife has ended on one front. Petroleum workers accepted a deal that ended an almost three-week strike in the industry which had slowed commerce and caused panic buying at the pumps in Africa's largest economy.
A strike in the country's coal fields was entering its fifth full day with no immediate end in sight, but talks on Thursday produced some progress.
"The talks in the collieries remain inconclusive. We have said we need more time to talk to our members," spokesman Lesiba Seshoka of the National Union of Mineworkers told Reuters.
"They have revised their wage offer, which I cannot disclose at this point in time. It is a matter of us hearing what our members have to say," he said.
The Chamber of Mines is negotiating on behalf of the coal companies which include Anglo Thermal Coal SA, Delmas Coal, Exxaro Resources [JSE:EXX], Kangra Coal, Optimum Coal and Xstrata Coal.
There is little political will to rein in unions. The ruling African National Congress is in a governing alliance with the country's biggest labour federation Cosatu, which has supplied it with millions of votes.
At Emalahleni on Thursday, 100km east of Johannesburg, thousands of striking coal workers vented their anger near an Anglo American [JSE:AGL] operation.
"I've worked 38 years for this company and I still get only R3 700 a month. How am I supposed to survive with that? And my family?" said Joseph, 55, who declined to give his last name.
