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Johannesburg - Striking mineworkers have accepted a new offer by Anglo American Platinum, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Wednesday.
Workers had agreed to a R4 500 once-off payment and a pre-tax, stand-alone allowance of R600 a month, said NUM Rustenburg co-ordinator Mxhasi Sithethi.
Workers were given the option of the R600 allowance or a salary increase of R400 a month.
Sithethi said the union would meet mine management on Thursday to formalise the agreement.
The company was offering workers deadline-driven incentives to return to work at its Rustenburg, Amandelbult and Union mines, where operations have been at a standstill for eight weeks over a pay increase demand.
Amplats said it would open next year's salary negotiations early, but any agreement would only apply from July.
It fired 12 000 striking workers from its Rustenburg operations, but said it would take them back on condition they arrived for work by certain dates, which has not happened.
The company initially gave workers until Monday to accept the R4 500 offer, then extended the deadline to Wednesday.
Mametlwe Sebei, a member of the miners' national strike committee - a group formed when workers expressed discontent over the NUM's representation of them in salary negotiations - said the company's increase offer was "a very important step forward".
"This is an actual increase, this is not just a go-back-to-work offer. It is constructive."
At the start of the strike, workers said they wanted a salary of R12 500 a month.
