Reuters reported that Anglo American Platinum will resume work at its strike hit Rustenburg operations just days after South Africa's government launched a crackdown to disarm miners and end 5 weeks of labor unrest.

Amplats, the world's top producer of the precious metal, suspended some of its operations this week after machete wielding strikers marched on shafts near Rustenburg, 100 kilometers northwest of Johannesburg.

The company said that the situation in Rustenburg remains calm and our current intention is to resume operations on Tuesday morning which will provide time for the government to implement further security measures.

Following a government promise to get tough on miners, police raided a Lonmin Plc hostel early on Saturday and seized spears machetes and other weapons from strikers.

President Mr Jacob Zuma's government after weeks of drawing accusations of responding too slowly said that it would clamp down on illegal gatherings and go after armed miners.

Brigadier General Xolani Mabanga defence Ministry official said that "The army has been requested to render support to an operation that is being conducted by the South African Police Service, not in the riot control but for a specific operation."

In Marikana, near Rustenburg, police last month shot 34 striking miners dead in a single day the bloodiest police action in South Africa since the end of apartheid in 1994. A total of 45 people have been killed in the unrest.

Sparked by the strike at a Lonmin mine in Marikana, the crisis has poisoned industrial relations in Africa's largest economy and choked platinum output. South Africa accounts for about 80 percent of the world's platinum production.

Source - Reuters

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