When the world’s biggest platinum miners sit down to hammer out a wage deal with one of South Africa’s most militant labor unions this week, they’ll hold two potentially winning cards in reserve: the cash and metal stockpiles to endure a strike. Those buffers may prove crucial as Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum Holdings and Sibanye Gold meet with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) on successive days from July 9. While the producers will be conscious that AMCU led the country’s longest ever platinum mining strike in 2014, none can meet its demand for a pay increase of as much as 48% without undermining their businesses.
