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Progress in S. African miners’ strike talks: mediator

Negotiators seeking to end a damaging South African miners’ strike have made significant progress in lengthy talks, with hopes of a solution by the end of the week, a mediator said Tuesday.

“We have made a fair amount of progress,” said Afzul Soobedaar, a senior member of the independent mediating commission CCMA.

“On the basis of the progress made, the prognosis for resolution of the matter is much more possible than it was previously,” he added, while insisting there was an agreed news blackout on the content of the talks

Soobedaar told reporters after the talks broke up overnight Monday that there was now was an “expectation” by both parties of an agreement “before this week is out.”

The strike has pitched British mining group Lonmin against striking miners seeking better pay in a sometimes violent dispute that has crippled platinum production at the company’s Marikana mine in South Africa’s North West province.

President Jacob Zuma warned Monday that the country could ill afford a recession over mine stoppages.

Zuma told a conference of the country’s powerful Cosatu labour group that 4.5 billion rand ($548 million, 417 million euros) had been lost in gold and platinum production this year and a further 118 million rand in the coal sector.

Lonmin became the epicentre of a wave of unrest to hit the vital mining sector in recent weeks, with tensions forcing several firms to suspend operations in the country’s platinum belt of northwestern Rustenburg.

The striking miners at the Marikana mine have agreed for the first time to lower their monthly salary demand of 12,500 rand, the mediator said Monday.

With calmer heads emerging for the first time since police gunned down 34 Lonmin protesters last month, Aquarius Platinum and a top chrome miner XStrata reopened two mines Monday.

The world’s top producer Anglo-American Platinum, which last week pulled down shutters on five mines in the platinum belt, said it would re-start operations on Tuesday.

Zuma urged striking mine workers and employers to find a solution to a spike in labour troubles that has flared into bloodshed and led to mine closures.

The government on Friday announced that it would no longer tolerate the unrest and ordered security forces to clamp down on illegal gatherings, weapons, threats and incitement.

Talks mediator Soobedaar said negotiations between workers and management would resume on Tuesday afternoon, stressing that “negotiations have advanced since last week.”