Anglo Platinum has confirmed that workers staging a strike at the Rustenburg mine have come to the surface.

Fifty-five members of temporary staff decided to hold an illegal sit-in protest on Tuesday (14th September) in two shafts at the South African facility.

Their actions had initially caused 214 permanent employees to refuse to enter the underground areas over safety concerns.

However, the world's largest platinum producer announced that the strike participants had been talked into leaving the mine and that the night shift proceeded as normal yesterday (16th September).

Anglo originally revealed that the workers were refusing to cooperate, despite the best efforts of the company and the National Union of Mineworkers.

SAN Labour Hire also managed to secure a court interdict to force the miners back to the surface, but they had been resolutely ignoring it, according to Anglo.

Meanwhile, Northam Platinum is thought to be losing about 1,000 oz per day in pgm production as about 8,000 of its employees continue to strike in South Africa.

Sources:

Temporary workers strike at Rustenburg platinum (15/09/10)

Anglo Platinum Mineworkers Return to Surface Following Underground Protest (16/09/10)

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