JOHANNESBURG: Top global producer Anglo American Platinum said on Monday it would offload some of its South African mines following a debilitating five-month wage strike which cut annual production by 40 per cent.

“We have decided that we will exit from the Union and Rustenburg mines,” the firm said, announcing interim results that showed it lost at least 424,000 ounces during the industrial action.

The firm’s operations in Rustenburg, northwest of Johannesburg, were hit hard when about 80,000 members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) downed tools in January for higher pay. The parties signed a new wage deal at the end of June.—AFP

Published in Dawn, July 22nd, 2014