Platinum heavyweight Angloplat is optimistic that it can resolve the ongoing strike at its mining operations as negotiations continue over a pay dispute with its workers.

The world's biggest platinum producer joined Implats in discussions with the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), with the response perceived as encouraging, even though both companies have vowed that their wage offers were final.

Angloplat spokesman Mike Mtakati told Reuters there "seems to be progress in our talks and we are very hopeful we might get a breakthrough".

Mr Mtakati declined to comment on whether or not the firm had changed its offer, but said that union officials were now consulting with their members in a bid to move forward.

He said that the strike was continuing to operate at a similar level, with around 30-40 per cent of the 45,000 workforce involved, resulting in a moderate impact on output.

Meanwhile, an Implats spokesperson told Mining Weekly that the NUM members among its workforce were continuing to strike, including "the mining operations and mineral processes on the Impala lease area, near Rustenburg, as well as refineries in Springs".

Implats is also enmeshed in wage discussions with the union, with the world's two biggest platinum producers facing an increasingly tight squeeze on supply the longer the stoppage drags on.

Around 17,000 Implats employees are currently on strike, at an estimated cost of R28-million a day in gross profit.