ASTANA: A strike that saw hundreds of miners down tools and refuse to surface from a chain of coal pits in central Kazakhstan ended on Friday, regional authorities said.
Around 420 coal miners surfaced from four mines in the Karaganda region, local officals said, after spending four days underground in a strike over pay.
Some of the miners were loudly applauded by colleagues as they exited the mines, controlled by an affiliate of the industrial giant ArcelorMittal, one of the largest steel and mining companies in the world.
A statement on the website of the Karaganda regional government said the company had agreed to raise wages by 30 percent for employees working underground and that the mines would be operational again from Saturday.
ArcelorMittal could not immediately confirm the information when contacted by AFP.
The strike, which began December 11, had generated concern in Kazakhstan, an authoritarian Central Asian state where labour rights and industrial action are politically sensitive.
It was the country's largest workers' protest since government troops opened fire on striking oil workers in 2011, killing at least 14 people.
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