Lonmin to meet strikers in bid to curb losses

Talks to try to end a crippling three-week strike which has cost 44 lives at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine in South Africa are due to resume today. The talks, which were suspended on Thursday for the funerals of at least 30 of the workers who were shot by police, are due to restart this afternoon. It is not clear who will turn up for the talks, with the AMCU union claiming it has been sidelined and that it will only attend if invited.

Lonmin, the world's third largest platinum producer, has lost 2,500 ounces of production each day of the strike. That has placed increasing pressure on its overstretched balance sheet with suggestions that it will need a £1bn rights issue to reduce its debts.