By Devon Maylie
JOHANNESBURG--Gold Fields Ltd. (GFI) said the bulk of its
employees at the KDC West mine resumed work Friday, following an
ultimatum issued this week.
The company said 11,000 workers showed up for work at KDC West
with the only ones not to return being the 1,500 workers at KDC
West who hadn't showed up for their shift Thursday. The dismissed
workers have until Friday afternoon to appeal.
However, about 8,500 miners are still on strike at Gold Fields'
KDC East mine.
The return to work at KDC West comes after Gold Fields Chief
Executive Nick Holland issued an ultimatum to resume work this week
or face immediate dismissal.
Lonmin PLC (LMI.LN) said Friday that all employees have returned
to work after a brief stoppage Thursday, when several thousand
workers protested the arrests of four colleagues on murder
charges.
Mining companies are battling to end weeks-long strikes that
have shut some of the country's biggest gold, platinum and iron ore
mines. Workers went on wildcat strikes calling for higher wages and
companies started to dismiss those that didn't return in recent
weeks.
Gold Fields' South Africa capacity was down by more than 75% by
the strikes. Industry-wide talks to resolve the strike failed this
week, but the Chamber of Mines presented another offer Thursday,
which unions will present to their members this weekend.
Write to Devon Maylie at devon.maylie@dowjones.com