Lonmin Says Close to Wage Agreement at Marikana

JOHANNESBURG--Lonmin PLC (LNMIY, LMI.LN) said Thursday that it presented a wage offer to striking employees who will report back Friday, declining to give more details on the amount.

The strike started Aug. 10, when 3,000 rock drillers put down their tools at Lonmin's Marikana mine. Workers clashed in the following days, resulting in 10 deaths. On Aug. 16, police fired into a crowd of protesters, killing another 34 people. Another body was found Tuesday.

Workers at the mine say they won't return to work until they get a wage increase to 12,500 rand a month, almost triple what many say they're making now after deductions. To bring the five week strike to an end, Lonmin said it would engage on the workers demands. The meeting with all union and worker delegations started Thursday morning. Lonmin has lost more than 50,000 troy ounces of platinum production and is under pressure to meet debt obligations which will be reviewed at the end of the month.

"Following negotiations today, Lonmin has presented an offer to the employee delegate. The offer will be communicated to employees at the hill where they have been waiting for feedback before negotiations continue again tomorrow," Lonmin said in a statement.

At the heart of many of the strikes are worker grievances over pay and the slow pace of change at mines since the end of apartheid almost two decades ago. Amid that discord, the emerging Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union has been recruiting at mines with promises to get workers higher pay. That has sparked clashes with the country's largest mine union, the National Union of Mineworkers, an ally of the country's ruling African National Congress.

The strike has since spread to other mines. The latest incident came Wednesday when more than 1,000 protesters blocked the entrance to Anglo American Platinum Ltd.'s (AGPPY, AMS.JO) mines in Rustenburg. The company subsequently shut five mines, accounting for about a third of its output. Workers there Thursday presented a memorandum to mine management for a wage increase to ZAR16,070 a month.

Write Devon Maylie at [e-mail]

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