S Africa govt in final bid to help end platinum strike

The world's largest platinum producers and striking South African miners were holding last-ditch talks under government mediation today in a bid to end a crippling five-month strike.
Mineral Resources Minister Ngoako Ramatlhodi, who in recent days injected fresh impetus into the stalled talks, said that today's negotiations were the last his meditators would be involved in.
Ramatlhodi said he was "convinced we did enough work" for the negotiating parties to come to a settlement.
Ministry spokesman Mahlodi Muofhe would not be drawn on the state of the talks Monday apart from telling AFP "we believe that they are talking to each other in good terms".

After months of standing on the sidelines, the government stepped in at the end of May to try break the deadlock between the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) and the platinum mining firms.
The government became involved following several rounds of failed negotiations after 80,000 platinum mine workers downed tools at Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin on January 23.

The strike helped push the economy in the first quarter of this year into its first contraction since the global economic crisis five years ago, raising the spectre of recession.
The country's new Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene told the Financial Times he forecast a "growth of around 2 percent" this year.

The work stoppages have cost employees USD 2.0 billion in revenue while workers have forfeited about 10 billion rands USD 945 million in wages and benefits, according to industry figures.
By the end of this week, the strike will have cost the industry more than a third of its annual production.
It has already affected 45 per cent of global platinum supply, according to the mining firms operating on the belt which has the largest reserves of the metal used to make jewellery and catalytic converters in cars.