Johannesburg - The JSE platinum index JPLAT was down more than 4% on Tuesday morning as labour tensions brought production to a halt at Lonmin's (LON) Rustenburg mine and threatened to disrupt Anglo Platinum [JSE:AMS](Amplats) proposed restructuring plan.
At 9:54 the platinum index was down 4.45% at 1 460.16.
Platinum miners seem to be caught in the crossfire between rival unions the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) and The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
At Lonmin [JSE:LON] this morning miners arrived for work but did not go underground. Although spokeswoman Sue Vey said the reason for the workers not going underground was unclear‚ tension between rival unions National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) as a result of violence over the weekend appear to be the reason behind the stoppage.
Amcu has also said it would fight the proposed labour cuts annouced by Amplats last week through "all available avenues"‚ within the law. Amplats announced on Friday that it would trim its planned job cuts from 14 000 to 6 000 as part of a broader restructuring programme.
At 9:54 Lonmin was down 6.95% at R37.47‚ Amplats was down 2.7% at R304.42 and Impala Platinum (IMP) was off 4.56% at R99.50.