The world's No 2 platinum producer, Impala Platinum, said on Tuesday a strike by workers had halted its largest operations in South Africa, and it was unclear how long the industrial action would last. The strike by 10,000 workers at Impala Platinum (Implats) ignored a weekend call by the mineworkers' union to suspend threatened action.
It could also push up prices of the precious metal used in catalytic converters to remove pollutants from car exhausts, and in jewellery. South Africa produces four fifths of the world's platinum. Platinum rose to $1,237 an ounce against $1,236.50 after the company announced news of the strike. Implats supplies 25 percent of global platinum output, mainly from its South African mines and its Zimbabwean operations.
Above-inflation pay settlements after strikes in other industries and sectors in South Africa, and threats of more stoppages, have added to concerns of inflation pressures, although President Jacob Zuma has said the union action was nothing more than part of the normal annual pay round. Implats said it was unaware of the reason for the strike at its main Rustenburg mine, which followed an improved pay offer to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).
The union said on Sunday it had suspended an indefinite strike on Implats to consult its members on the new wage offer. So far, the NUM - South Africa's biggest union - said the first results of a ballot of workers showed a split over whether to accept an improved wage offer to avert a strike.
On Tuesday, the NUM said some members were angry at the delay by Implats in making its latest pay offer. Some members rejected the pay rise as not enough. Implats said the strike was made worse by the fact that no demands had been made of management by the striking workers, and said the work stoppage appeared to be related to communication between the union and its members. "Implats confirms that there is a work stoppage at the company's Rustenburg operations. The stoppage involves most underground employees," the company said in a statement.