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By Devon Maylie
MARIKANA, South Africa--Workers clamored for higher wages
Wednesday at two more platinum companies in South Africa's mining
heartland, less than a week after police shot and killed 34 people
at a violent protest at Lonmin PLC's (LMI.LN) Marikana mine.
Miners at the world's biggest platinum producer Anglo-American
Platinum Ltd. (AMS.JO), or Amplats, and Royal Bafokeng Platinum
Ltd. (RBP.JO) echoed the Lonmin workers in calling for better pay
and working conditions.
Amplats said a group of workers submitted demands including a
wage increase at its Thembelenmi mine. The company said there was
no strike yet.
On Tuesday night, Royal Bafokeng Platinum said about 500 rock
drillers embarked on an illegal strike. They blocked the entrance
to its North shaft, which accounts for 40% of its production,
preventing other miners from showing up to work.
The wage protests and ongoing disruption to the Marikana mine's
production briefly lifted platinum prices to their highest level in
four months as investors took in the possibility of a production
halt at Amplats, which accounts for 40% of global platinum supply.
At 1737 GMT, spot platinum was trading 1.5% higher at $1,522.50 a
troy ounce.
The new protests could also bring a spread of the violence that
has led to 44 deaths at Lonmin in one week as a result of clashes
between workers and police.
The Lonmin strike wasn't the first violent clash seen this year
in the platinum industry. A group of rock drillers launched an
illegal strike at Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMPUY) in
February, shutting down its largest mine and causing the company to
lose 120,000 ounces of platinum production. Police said three died
in clashes between workers.
At the Marikana mine Wednesday, the striking Lonmin workers met
with South African President Jacob Zuma near the site of last
week's shootings. Mr. Zuma's visit was his first public appearance
near the site of the shootings, though he had visited the mine
hospital last Friday. His promises of mediation, however, failed to
placate the workers.
Speaking to a crowd of several hundred miners who gathered in a
grassy field 500 meters from where the shootings took place, Mr.
Zuma attempted to show common cause with the strikers, refuting
their claims that the government had authorized the shooting and
was overlooking their concerns.
"I sympathize with all who fell victim," said Mr. Zuma.
The president, whose mother tongue is Zulu, addressed the
workers in Xhosa. Many Lonmin employees come from the Eastern Cape,
where the language is most widely spoken.
The audience, sitting next to homes made of tin or cement
blocks, met Mr. Zuma's comments with heckles. One Lonmin worker,
who identified himself as a local leader with the Association of
Mineworkers and Construction Union, or AMCU, said the president
wasn't listening to them and hadn't paid his respects to the site
where protesters had died in violent clashes with police.
The problems at Lonmin began Aug. 10, when 3,000 rock drillers
launched an illegal strike for higher wages.
The protests quickly led to violence. Fighting among workers at
first claimed 10 lives, including two police officers. Then, police
fired live ammunition into a crowd Thursday during a standoff with
protesting employees, killing another 34 workers.
A rivalry between the established National Union of Mineworkers
and the emerging AMCU added to the tension. Workers wearing new
green T-shirts with the AMCU insignia patrolled the area Wednesday
and said protesters weren't allowed to speak to the media.
A dozen workers wandered around the site wearing the AMCU shirts
T-shirts and carrying sticks. They said they wouldn't speak about
their grievances until after the dead are buried on Thursday.
Mr. Zuma, whose government has been criticized for its failure
to intervene earlier, said he has been meeting with Lonmin's
management and police to understand what happened and to find a way
to prevent it from happening again. He said that he will be able to
comment further on what transpired after a recently-mandated
Commission of Inquiry completes its work.
"Workers have a right to express their grievances," Mr. Zuma
said, adding that he will continue to meet with the company and
community leaders. He said he had heard the workers' demand for a
wage increase to 12,500 rand a month and would take it to the
ministerial committee and the company.
The president's efforts at mediation, however, appeared to leave
the strikers underwhelmed.
Lonmin employee Sekeni Nkumbi said he's staying away from the
mine until the management agrees to meet workers over demands to
increase wages.
"I am getting old and have very little to show for the years I
have worked," said 54-year-old Mr. Nkumbi, who has worked at Lonmin
for seven years.
Write to Devon Maylie at devon.maylie@dowjones.com
(Laura Clarke and Alex MacDonald in London contributed to this
report.)