The growing impact of the strength of the rand on mining operations in South Africa has been underlined by a demonstration by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

General-secretary Gwede Mantashe led a march to the South African Reserve Bank in Pretoria, calling on the bank to prevent the mining industry suffering any further.

With the industry run using dollar-denominated earnings, the impact on miners in sectors across the industry - including the platinum industry - has been sharp, as NUM spokesperson Moferefere Lekorotsoana told Mining Weekly.

"We would like to see a situation where the currency can be in a range where it will impact positively on the export and import sectors," he commented.

"Although we recognise that marginal shafts are hurting, we do not think all the ills of the industry should be blamed on the strong rand," he added.

The NUM said it was appealing to Reserve Bank governor Tito Mboweni to explore ways of stabilising the South African economy - before handing over a memorandum to calling for the rand to be fixed in a range of between R7.50 and R9 to the US dollar.

The platinum industry has been one of a number of sectors affected by the rand's strength - last month chief executive Ralf Havenstein expressed his own fears for the industry calling it the "biggest problem at the moment for us".

Mr Havenstein told Business Today that while he was satisfied with the decisions taken by management last year, which were based on R7 to the dollar, he was starting to feel more negative after recent currency trends.