South Africa miners return to work after longest platinum strike – by Ed Stoddard (Reuters U.S. – June 25, 2014)

 http://www.reuters.com/

MARIKANA South Africa – (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of South African platinum miners returned to work on Wednesday after wage deals ended the longest and most damaging strike in the country’s history.

The five-month strike hit 40 percent of global production of the precious metal and has cost Lonmin LMI.J, Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J) and Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J) a combined 24 billion rand ($2.25 billion) in lost revenue.

Industry and union officials said miners were streaming back to work and Reuters reporters saw thousands trudging to Marikana before sunrise on a cold winter’s morning. A supervisor at the Marikana operations of London-listed Lonmin told Reuters it could be a week or more before any workers went back underground. A return to full production could still take three months.

“Viva AMCU! Viva Lonmin!” one worker shouted on his way to a Lonmin processing plant. Miners in a bus danced and sang in jubilation as it drove up to the gates. Lonmin had set up huge canvas tents in a nearby stadium where miners underwent medical and other checks.

Calling for a “living wage” for its members, many of whom live in poverty, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) had demanded an immediate doubling of basic wages to 12,500 rand ($1,200) a month.

In the end, it settled for raises of up to around 20 percent annually.

The companies will find even that increase hard to absorb. Around half of the country’s platinum shafts were losing money even before the strike.

“We await more detail on a recovery plan but clearly the company isn’t out of the woods yet, with the health of employees, damage underground from prolonged inactivity, retraining, etc, etc, all issues to overcome,” Investec said in a note about Lonmin.

Lonmin’s share price is down more than 21 percent since Jan. 22, the eve of the strike. Implats has shed about 11 percent while Amplats is up around 9 percent over the same period.

IMPACT UNDERESTIMATED

Yet some analysts caution there could be further impact from the walkout.

“The market is probably still underestimating the true cost of the strike on the companies’ balance sheet and the cost of returning operations to production. So until we have got visibility on that I would remain somewhat cautious,” said Edward Sterck at BMO Capital Markets.

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