The company said in a statement the dismissed workers constitute 48% of the mine's total workforce.
“The strikers were protesting against the suspension of four of their colleagues who breached picketing rules and terms of a court interdict during a protected strike at the mine in October‚ and were demanding that the suspensions be lifted‚” Coal of Africa said in a note.
The miner said its remaining 190 employees will return to work on December 7 to resume operation of two of its five underground sections‚ the processing plant and administrative functions.