Workers at Impala Platinum, the world's No 2 producer of the precious metal, on Wednesday rejected the company's latest pay offer and continued a strike at its largest mine, denting production of the metal. South Africa produces four fifths of the precious metal, and Implats supplies 25 percent of global platinum output mainly from its South African operations and mines in Zimbabwe.
The strike is also likely to hurt investor confidence in a sector hard hit by the credit crisis and affect prices of the metal used in catalytic converters to remove pollutants from car exhausts, and in jewellery. Platinum received a fillip from the work stoppage, trading at $1,245.50 an ounce against $1,239 on Tuesday, but failed to firm further because auto demand is still depressed.
"We expect more details later today, but (the strike) is price supportive in the short term," VTB analyst Andrey Kryuchenkov said in a note. More than 20,000 striking workers at Impala Platinum (Implats) went on strike on Monday night angered by Implats' delay in making its latest pay offer.
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