Strike over, says Lonmin

Marikana – Lonmin [JSE:LON], the world's third-largest platinum producer, said around 6 000 workers had returned to work on Tuesday at its Marikana mine, ending a brief illegal strike that coincided with a visit by journalists.

Lonmin spokesperson Sue Vey said all the workers were now back underground and the protest had cost the company a shift's worth of production.

The protests were being carried out by miners affiliated with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu), who were demanding the closure of the offices of the rival National Union of Mineworkers because it was no longer the majority union.

The rand recovered most of its earlier losses against the dollar on Tuesday.

The rand initially fell to a session low of R9.1173 after Lonmin said its workers were refusing to go underground during a mine visit by journalists, driving jittery investors to sell the rand.

By 10:59 GMT, the local currency had recovered to R9.0875/dollar after the miners went underground.