Implats Mine faces unrest as workers stage underground protest

More than 2,000 workers were occupying a South African platinum mine for a second day Tuesday as the owners upped the pressure to end one of the country’s biggest mine protests in years.

Impala Platinum Holdings, also known as Implats, said that 63 of the 2,205 miners who started the protest Monday had come to the surface during the night.

ALSO READ: WATCH: Death toll rises at Impala Platinum Mines tragedy [VIDEO]

The company called the action an “illegal underground protest” and warned it will “address those employees who engage in illegal conduct and criminal acts in a decisive way”.

OPERATIONS STOPPED AT IMPALA MINE

All operations at the mine, northwest of Johannesburg, have been halted while talks are held with the workers and unions.

National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) officials “managed to engage workers last night and started the process to address their concerns with management,” a company spokesman told AFP.

ALSO READ: The TECH that promises to slash vehicle theft in South Africa

“Hopefully we can respond today through the NUM and agree a process to return all workers to the surface and resolve issues in a normal constructive engagement,” he added.

South Africa has seen a growing number of underground protests by miners.

ALSO READ: BREAKING: 11 miners killed in accident at Impala Platinum mine

‘ILLEGAL PROTEST’

“Illegal underground protests and copycat illegal actions… have become more prevalent in recent months,” Implats said.

More than 100 gold miners spent nearly three days underground in Springs near Johannesburg in October as rival unions battled for control.

Another 440 staged a protest in another gold mine this month while 250 platinum workers demanding better wages occupied a shaft for three days at the same time.

ALSO READ: Impala Platinum losing R2 billion a year: Job cuts inevitable

Mining employs hundreds of thousands of people in South Africa — the biggest exporter of platinum and a major exporter of gold, diamonds, coal and other raw materials.

© Agence France-Presse