The strike that started last week at Lonmin's Marikana mine has pushed up platinum prices and stoked worries about investing in Africa's biggest economy, where chronic unemployment and massive income disparity threaten social stability.
The world's top platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, said on Wednesday it had received a demand for a pay increase from its South African workers, while a trade union said miners at Royal Bafokeng Platinum's Rasimone site were blocked from reporting to work by colleagues. Defenceweb reports that the price of platinum leapt to its highest since early May on Wednesday, driven by concern about supply from South Africa, which holds 80% of the known reserves of the metal, which is used in jewellery and for catalytic converters in cars.
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