Impala Platinum revealed today (25th August) that production at its Rustenburg mine has been suspended after workers went on strike over a wage dispute.

The world's second-largest platinum producer has offered a ten per cent pay rise, which has been accepted "in principle", according to the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM).

However, NUM Spokesman Lesiba Seshoka explained in an interview with Bloomberg that the workers were "very angry with the length of time it took for Impala to reach agreement".

"We don't know how long it will take us to convince members to end the strike," he added.

Mr Seshoka also revealed in an interview with Reuters that approximately 10,000 workers have decided to down tools, with some holding out for a pay increase of up to 13 per cent.

"Even though the NUM had officially suspended the strike pending consultations over the new pay offer by the company, some workers decided to go on strike," he told the news provider.

The union predicted on 14th August that up to 17,000 workers could go on strike as a result of the pay dispute, which was originally declared two months ago.

Meanwhile, the NUM has also confirmed that a first ballot of the employees has indicated that they are split over whether to accept Impala's latest offer.

Although it did not discuss figures, South Africa's largest union announced that it is expecting poll results from all its branches in the near future.

"There are some branches which have rejected the offer … but we don't know how many as we have not consolidated all the reports yet," NUM Negotiator Eddie Majadibodu told Reuters.

"Those who have rejected the offer say they are not going to work until a better offer has been put on the table."

Impala Spokesman Bob Gilmour also announced that the strike could impact production at Rustenburg, which has an annual output of about one million pgm ounces.

"It seems the strike is due to a bit of miscommunication between the union and its members," he told Reuters.

"The last we knew was the union was consulting its members on the latest wage offer, now we have this action."

Impala Platinum produced 3.64 million ounces of pgms in the 2008 financial year.

Sources:

Impala's Rustenburg Mining Operation Halted by Strike (Update1) (25/08/09)

S.Africa union says split over Implats pay deal (25/08/09)

UPDATE 1-Strike halts SAfrica platinum group's biggest mine (25/08/09)

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