Anglo American Platinum says strikes end

11th Oct 2013 08:05

Anglo American Platinum, part of FTSE 100 mining giant Anglo American, said an 11 day strike over job cuts in South Africa had ended. Workers will go back to work at mines near Rustenburg and North of the Pilanesburg after the company agreed a deal that means there will be no forced retrenchments. The 3,300 impacted employees which the company had planned to lay off have now been granted voluntary separation packages.The world's biggest platinum producer will keep on 1,250 of those 3,300 employees for six months to undertake reclamation activities at the affected operations. At the end of this period employees not placed in vacant position will be "exited" with voluntary separation packages, it said. Anglo American Platinum or Amplats as it is known said: "As a result of these retrenchment avoidance measures no employees will be retrenched."It said the strike had resulted in the loss of about 44,000 platinum ounces of production although sales to customers were not interrupted thanks to the company's inventory position. When the company, which is 80% owned by Anglo American, first announced its restructuring plans in January it had said that as many as 14,000 jobs could be affected. But after extensive consultations with the Department of Mineral Resources and unions the company cut the numbers to be affected to 3,300 by the end of August. Shares in Anglo American were up 0.88% at 1489p at 08:29 on Friday.TB