[miningmx.com] — SOUTH Africa’s National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said on Monday it has reached a one-year wage deal with African Rainbow Minerals’ Nkomati nickel mine, ending a six-day strike at the operation.
The union said in a statement that the workers will get wage increases of 9% to 10%, depending on worker category.
NUM also said that it had concluded a two-year wage deal with Bokoni Platinum mine, a joint venture between Canada’s Anooraq Resources and Anglo American Platinum, the world’s top platinum producer.
The workers will get an 8% to 9% wage increases for both years, the union said.
The deals add on to a string of wage agreements reached in the past month as South Africa’s annual “strike season” winds down.
The settlements have been for the most part in the same range – 7.5% to 10% – well above the inflation rate of 5.3%, which has become standard practice but one that companies say is not sustainable in the long run.
A strike against the country’s main gold producers in late July and early August cost about $190m in lost output, while a week-long coal strike curbed exports to resource hungry India and China.
