--12,000 workers have been on strike at Gold Fields's KDC mine
since Wednesday
--KDC is the first gold mine affected by a walk-out since Lonmin
strikes began
--Gold Fields says KDC strike may have similar origin to Lonmin
dispute
(Updates throughout with comment from Lonmin, unions.)
By Devon Maylie and Alexis Flynn
LONDON--Worker discord that has troubled South Africa's mining
heartland for several weeks has spread to the country's
second-largest gold producer, as Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI.JO) said
Friday that 12,000 workers have staged a walk-out at one of its
mines since Wednesday night.
The walk-out at the KDC mine, on Johannesburg's West Rand, is
the first to affect a gold mine since a series of violent strikes
largely shut down Lonmin PLC's (LMI.LN) Marikana platinum mine
three weeks ago. Gold Fields said the strike may have similar roots
to the Marikana dispute, which has so far led to the deaths of 44
people.
This further escalation of labor tensions comes as a significant
portion of South Africa's platinum production remains shut down,
global platinum prices remain elevated and the scandal of the
killings at Marikana engulfs the country's political and business
elite.
At the heart of the Lonmin protest are frustrations over pay and
living conditions. Coupled with that is a battle for membership
between the National Union of Mine Workers, which is aligned with
the ruling African National Congress, and new rival the Association
of Mine Workers and Construction Union, which is gaining
membership. The bloodshed has also split public opinion in South
Africa and heaped political pressure on President Jacob Zuma.
The Gold Fields workers have been engaged in a wildcat strike
since Wednesday night, with the loss of two day shifts and two
night shifts, the company said in a short statement. It did not say
what demands the striking workers have made, but said it could be
related to ructions similar to those seen between established and
emerging trade unions at Marikana.
"Based on informal feedback from employees, the strike appears
to be related mainly to disagreements within organized labour and
related structures on the mine, although we cannot confirm this,"
said Peter Turner, head of Gold Fields South Africa.
Gold Fields's management has been granted an urgent interdict to
bring the unlawful and unprotected strike to an end, the company
said.
The KDC mine produced 1.1 million troy ounces of gold in the
year ending December 2011. Gold Fields shares were trading 4.8%
lower on the day as of 1123 GMT, at ZAR9.90.
The Gold Fields announcement came as Lonmin said attendance by
workers at its Marikana mine fell again while talks to resolve the
three-week-long strike stalled. Just 5.7% of workers showed up on
average across all its shafts, Lonmin said Friday.
"We expect that employees are waiting for the outcome of the
Peace Accord meeting," next week, Lonmin said.
The breakaway AMCU union complained Friday that it is still
being excluded from talks at Marikana.
In a surprise move Thursday, South African prosecutors charged
270 platinum miners from Marikana with 34 counts of murder, using
an obscure Roman-Dutch common-purpose law often used under
apartheid. The workers were killed in a single day of violence on
August 16, largely by bullets fired by police.
Cosatu, South Africa's biggest union federation, said the
"absolutely outrageous" charges threatened to undermine a special
commission of inquiry appointed to probe how the wage dispute at
Marikana exploded into such a violence.
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