JOHANNESBURG, May 16 (Reuters) – South Africa is the Saudi
Arabia of platinum with steroids thrown in.

But Pretoria could never manipulate the platinum price the
way the Middle Eastern kingdom can influence oil’s and talk of a
platinum cartel, perhaps along the lines of the Organization of
the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is a pipe-dream.

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – Workers at Lonmin’s South African platinum shafts were ending a walkout, the company said on Wednesday, easing fears that a two-day strike could ignite fresh labor violence in the continent’s largest economy.

Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) earlier told thousands of strikers at a rally to return to their posts, pending negotiations between the union and an independent mediator.

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – The main union at Lonmin’s (LMI.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (LONJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) South African platinum shafts told striking miners to return to work on Wednesday, potentially defusing a two-day wildcat action that had raised fears of a fresh wave of labor violence.

Leaders of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) told thousands of strikers at a rally to return to their posts, pending negotiations between the union and an independent mediator.

MARIKANA, South Africa (Reuters) – Labor strife in South Africa’s platinum belt intensified on Wednesday as a wildcat strike across Lonmin’s shafts entered a second day, raising fears that further violence could hit the country’s credit rating.

Tensions have been running high over looming job cuts and wage talks in the sector, complicated by a turf war between rival unions that contributed to violent strikes at Lonmin and other platinum producers last year.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South African workers of world No. 3 platinum producer Lonmin (LONJ.J: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) (LMI.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) launched a wildcat strike on Tuesday, halting all of the company’s mine operations and reigniting fears of deadly unrest that rocked the industry last year.

The platinum belt towns of Rustenburg and Marikana, which saw a bloody Lonmin strike last year, are a volatile flashpoint of labor strife and tensions are running high with job cuts and wage talks looming.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A militant South African union said on Sunday that one of its organizers had been shot dead in the platinum belt city of Rustenburg, a potential flashpoint at a time when tensions are running high with job cuts and wage talks looming.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU), which poached tens of thousands of disgruntled workers last year from the dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), said the unnamed organizer had been killed on Saturday.

JOHANNESBURG, May 12 (Reuters) – A militant South African
union said on Sunday that one of its organisers had been shot
dead in the platinum belt city of Rustenburg, a potential
flashpoint at a time when tensions are running high with job
cuts and wage talks looming.

The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union
(AMCU), which poached tens of thousands of disgruntled workers
last year from the dominant National Union of Mineworkers (NUM),
said the unnamed organiser had been killed on Saturday.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Anglo American’s platinum arm, under pressure from South Africa’s government, could announce a restructuring plan as early as Thursday that will sharply scale back job losses as it tries to balance out cost cuts and the threat of labor unrest.

Anglo American Platinum had planned to slash 14,000 jobs and mothball two mines to pull back to profit but industry sources have told Reuters that the final plan would be pared back, with as few as 5,000 jobs cut.

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s dominant mineworkers union will launch a youth wing on Thursday in a bid to shore up its numbers after it lost tens of thousands of members to a militant rival last year on the country’s platinum belt.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which says it has around 300,000 members or about 60 percent of the mine workforce in the world’s top platinum producer, is a key political ally of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).