Business
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By Siphiwe Sibeko
MARIKANA, South Africa, Aug 15 (Reuters) - Thousands ofstriking miners armed with machetes and sticks faced off withSouth African police on Wednesday at Lonmin's Marikana mineafter it halted production following the deaths of 10 people infighting between rival unions.
Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, hasthreatened to sack 3,000 rock drill operators if they fail toend a wildcat pay strike that started on Friday at Marikana, itsflagship mine 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
The illegal stay-away and the union clashes have forcedLondon-headquartered Lonmin to halt mining at all its operationsin South Africa, which account for 12 percent of global platinumoutput. South Africa has 80 percent of known platinum reserves.
On Wednesday, scores of police backed by helicopters linedup opposite a crowd of around 2,500 miners who had taken upposition on a rocky outcrop overlooking the mine.
"The situation is stable but tense. We are busy withnegotiations and are maintaining a high visibility in the area,"national police spokesman Dennis Adrio said.
Lonmin secured a court order compelling the miners to returnto work on Wednesday, and can fire them if they fail to do so.
"If we believe that this criminal activity is stillcontinuing and that rock drill operators are still on thisillegal strike we will have no option but to issue theultimatum," Executive Vice President Barnard Mokwena said.
The strikers have not made their demands explicit, althoughmuch of the bad blood stems from a turf war stretching acrossthe platinum industry between the dominant National Union ofMineworkers (NUM) and the newer Association of Mineworkers andConstruction Union (AMCU).
The price of platinum rose 2 percent on Tuesday as a resultof the suspension in mining. Lonmin shares were down 1 percentin London and 0.7 percent in Johannesburg on Wednesday afterfalling more than 4 percent the previous day.
Already struggling with low prices and weak demand, Lonminmay miss its annual production target of 750,000 ounces becausethe quarter to the end of September is typically its best.
The Marikana violence was the deadliest yet in aneight-month tussle between NUM and AMCU.
At least three people were killed in a similar round offighting in January that led to a six-week closure of theworld's largest platinum mine, run by Impala Platinum.That helped push the platinum price up 15 percent.
It is unclear who is behind the latest killings, whichinclude two police officers, although Mokwena said managementhad held several meetings with four recognised unions - notincluding AMCU - and all had distanced themselves from theunrest. (Reporting by Sherilee Lakmidas; Editing by Ed Cropley)
