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Johannesburg - A spontaneous strike by between 6 500 and 7 800 workers to mourn the work-related death of a colleague brought Harmony's Virginia operations to a halt on Tuesday.
Members of the country's largest miners' union, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) will join other unions in strikes on Wednesday in three provinces, including the Free State where the Virginia operations are based, to protest against the electricity crisis that shut mines for a week in January.
Harmony stands to lose between 30 and 35 kg of gold a day in the stoppages at Virginia, which comprises the Unisel, Merriespruit, Brand and Harmony mines and a plant, said Amelia Soares, a company spokesperson.
Tuesday's action was a spontaneous strike by workers to mourn the death of a colleague last week in a water jet accident at the Unisel mine, said NUM spokesperson Lesiba Seshoka.
NUM members will also be part of the strikes in Free State, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape provinces on Wednesday, Seshoka told Miningmx.
NUM said the Virginia stoppage started on Monday night, but Harmony said the workers had halted work on Tuesday.
"Workers are sending a message that says "enough is enough"with deaths at the mines," NUM said in a statement.
"Harmony is engaging with regional union representatives to address the matter," the company said, adding the mine had achieved a million fatality free shifts last week.
A second worker was killed on Tuesday at Harmony's Elandsrand mine.
The sections of the Unisel and Elandsrand mines where the workers were killed have been temporarily shut to allow an investigation into the causes of the accidents, Soares said.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has embarked on one-day strikes in different provinces ahead of a national strike on 6 August to protest against job losses resulting from electricity shortages, the rising cost of food, fuel and steadily increasing interest rates.
The NUM's 320 mbers will join the national action, the union has said.
Harmony's shares were down six cents at R94.69 each in mid-afternoon trade on the JSE, underperforming a 3.4% rise of the gold index.
- MiningMX.com
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