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Gold mine strike fizzling out

Johannesburg - Some South African gold miners have ended their strike for higher wages and were heading back to work after just three days, bolstering confidence that the strike could be formally called off on Friday.

This would be a relief to the economy, hit by strikes across a range of sectors including auto making, which have cost tens of millions of rands a day in lost output.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has been consulting its members on a revised offer from gold producers and the return to work showed some of its members have accepted the terms of the new deal.

"The strike is partially over," spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka told Power FM radio on Friday.

He did not indicate how many workers had returned nor would he comment on reports that employers had revised their pay offer to 10%.

Separately, Sibanye Gold said workers at its Kloof mine near Johannesburg had ended a strike as of last night and that it hoped workers at its Beatrix mine in the Free State would return today.

In addition to Sibanye, South Africa's other main gold producers - AngloGold Ashanti [JSE:ANG], Gold Fields [JSE:GFI], Harmony Gold [JSE:HAR] - had also been impacted.

Trade unions rejected gold producers' previous offer of 6.5%.

The SABC, citing unnamed sources close to the talks, said the revised offer was 10%.

Inflation is currently running at 6.3%.

Squeezed by soaring costs

Companies, squeezed by soaring costs and falling prices, have said they cannot afford big pay rises.

NUM, which represents two-thirds of unionised gold miners, had been seeking increases of 15% to 60% while its rival the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) wants wage hikes of up to 150% for the lowest paid workers.

Amcu has not been on strike in the gold sector but said it would consider the latest industry offers at a meeting on Sunday.

"If they have accepted 10%, the companies and NUM will try and force Amcu members to accept that," president Joseph Mathunjwa told Reuters.

Operations where Amcu has the majority, such as AngloGold's Mponeng - the world's deepest mine - have worked normally throughout the strike.

If the gold dispute is resolved, attention will turn to talks in the platinum sector, where Amcu is the dominant union after poaching tens of thousands of disgruntled members from NUM in a brutal turf war that erupted last year.

Dozens of people were killed in 2012 in violence related to the union rivalry, which unleashed a wave of wildcat strikes that rocked the gold and platinum sectors, leading to sovereign credit downgrades.

But the gold strikes have been generally peaceful, raising hope that tensions in the platinum belt can also be contained.

Hopes of an end to a strike in the gold sector saw the rand firm to a session high of R10.1900/$.
 
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