Striking Amplats workers set to return after new pay offer

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), the South African platinum miner, said it expected miners to return to work today after agreeing a new pay deal in an attempt to end two months of wildcat strikes.

The world's biggest platinum miner also warned that lost production resulting from the strikes would cut its profit by more than a fifth this year.

Strikers in South Africa had rejected Amplats' offer of 4,500 rand (£322) one-off payments and a pledge to start wage talks ahead of the expiration of current pay deals next year. The latest deal adds a 600 rand monthly allowance to the previous offer.

"Indications are that the strike committee members are happy with the revised offer. They will today present the offer to their members and encourage them to return to work," an Amplats spokesman said.

The unrest at Amplats is part of broader strikes in the South African mining industry which has seen dozens of demonstrators killed in clashes with police in disputes over pay and conditions.

Most of the affected Amplats mines are near to the platinum belt's hub city of Rustenburg, 75 miles north-west of Johannesburg. Anglo American, which owns nearly 80 per cent of Amplats, is reviewing its South African platinum operations.