South African platinum producers, the world’s biggest miners of the metal, have asked a court to block a planned strike by one of the country’s largest mining unions that the companies say would further hurt the struggling industry. Anglo American Platinum, the world’s top platinum-group metals (PGMs) supplier, and other producers want the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to be denied the legal right to start a seven-day strike at platinum mines on February 28. The walkout would follow a strike over wages that’s been underway at Sibanye Gold’s gold mines since November, and worsen already fraught labor relations.
