File spoon-archives/aut-op-sy.archive/aut-op-sy_1997/aut-op-sy.9705, message 50


From: Curtis Price <cansv-AT-igc.apc.org>
Date:          Wed, 28 May 1997 20:22:36 +0000
Subject:       (Fwd) Safrican strike hits world's biggest platinum mine


------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Date:          Wed, 28 May 1997 02:22:13 -0700
From:          NewsHound <speak-AT-hound.com>

Reply-to:      speak-AT-hound.com
Subject:       Safrican strike hits world's biggest platinum mine



Here is your NewsHound news article from your "STRIKES" hound with a score "80."  For more information, visit the NewsHound website at http://www.newshound.com or send an email to speak-AT-hound.com.



Safrican >>strike<< hits world's biggest platinum mine   JOHANNESBURG, May
28 (Reuter) - A wildcat >>strike<< by 4,600 >>workers<< at South Africa's
Rustenburg Platinum Holdings Ltd (RPHG.J), the world's biggest platinum
mine, continued on Wednesday, fuelling a price rally in the precious metal.

Company spokesman Johan Adler said the morning shift had not reported for
work and that 15 to 20 percent of production was being affected by the
stoppage which started on Monday night.

``The >>strike<< is still on. It hasn't spread,'' Adler told Reuters.

The illegal >>strike<< action boosted platinum prices in New York and Tokyo
as investors worried about the impact of the action on an already tight
market.

``There is a great fear of short-term shortages and certainly a >>strike<<
might heighten those anxieties,'' said Ross Gardiner, mining analyst at
South African stockbroker SocGen Frankel Pollak.

One trader at a Tokyo brokerage said: ``News of the >>strike<< accelerated
buying. I expect the bullish sentiment to continue.''

Rustenburg produced 690,000 ounces of platinum in the six months to
December 31, 1996, equivalent to around a quarter of world supply.

Platinum, used in jewellery and in autocatalysts to cut car pollution, was
last trading at around $405 an ounce, a gain of $15 since Monday.

The market already faces a tightening supply position due to lower
shipments from Russia, the second largest supplier after South Africa, and
the impact of previous labour unrest at South African mines in 1996 which
hit output last year.

The problems at Rustenburg started when employees at two >>workers<<
hostels at the Amandelbult section of the mine took illegal industrial
action over the Friday sacking of an employee, the company said.

The >>workers<< did not turn up for Monday's night shift and a fight broke
out at one of the hostels between strikers and employees who wanted to
work. One >>worker<< was injured.

Adler said that the National Union of Mineworkers was opposed to the
>>strike<< and he said talks with >>workers<< were continuing to try to
resolve the issue.

The Rustenburg, with a total workforce of some 28,000, has had a troubled
history of labour unrest. Last July a bitter three-week wildcat >>strike<<
at the mine led to the loss of 100,000 ounces of platinum production.

SocGen's Gardiner said the latest unrest was part of a long-term dispute
over union representation.

``It's a fight for power between union representatives and non-union
representatives. They (mine management) are not going to solve the problem
in three weeks. The >>workers<< may return in a few days but this is going
to be a long process,'' he said.  REUTER Reut04:14 05-28-97 

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