* Four injured in unrest at Gold One mine “shoot-out”
* Government talks with Lonmin, unions go nowhere
* Striking Marikana miners want more than double present pay
By Ed Cropley
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 3 (Reuters) – South African police fired
teargas and rubber bullets to disperse striking miners at a gold
mine near Johannesburg on Monday, the latest outbreak in a wave
of labour militancy spreading from platinum mining into other
parts of the sector.
The unrest occurred less than three weeks after police shot
dead 34 striking miners at Lonmin’s Marikana
mine, the bloodiest security incident since the end of
white-minority rule in 1994.
The Marikana shooting shocked South Africa and marred the
image of the continent’s biggest economy, as the full extent of
a breakdown in labour relations in the mines became apparent.
South Africa is home to 80 percent of known platinum
reserves and the price of the precious metal, used in jewellery
and car catalytic converters, has risen more than 10 percent
since the violence erupted.
In Monday’s incident, mine owner Gold One International Ltd
said about 60 workers at its Modder East site went on a
wildcat strike, blocking half its employees from reporting for
their shifts.
Continued…
