Several striking workers at a South African ferrochrome plant owned by mining group Xstrata Plc were injured on Monday after company security guards fired teargas, and the two sides disputed the details.

Workers at the Rustenburg plant of Xstrata, the world's biggest producer of ferrochrome, went on strike on Friday in a dispute over wages. The company said unruly protesters threatened a worker who reported for his job, while the union said peaceful strikers were fired upon without warning.

The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA), however, said peaceful strikers were attacked with rubber bullets and teargas as a security vehicle rammed the crowd.

Xstrata said last week the strike would have only a modest impact since output was recently trimmed back temporarily. Last month, the company said ferrochrome output would probably be flat this year as it closes some furnaces for maintenance and keeps other shut due to low market demand.
Xstrata reported attributable, saleable ferrochrome production of 1.225 million tonnes in 2004.