Not only are they still going strong with their strike but it is now spreading to other mines. Take notes nikkas
Also take Note on how the article is written slanted in favor of the European mining companies
South African Mining Strikes Spread to Gold Fields - WSJ.com
JOHANNESBURG—Gold Fields Ltd. GFI.JO -0.84%said the illegal strike at its KDC gold mine spread to its western section, pulling 15,000 workers away from production as unrest in South Africa's mining sector expanded.
Meanwhile, Lonmin LMI.LN -1.29%PLC failed to lure back its workers as a wildcat strike continued to simmer at the site of last month's deadly clash with police.
KDC west miners walked off the job Monday, following co-workers from the east side who struck last week, Gold Fields said. About 400 workers at KDC west went to the mine hostels on Sunday to intimidate workers and demand that they join their strike, Gold Fields said
An internal union dispute prompted last week's strike on the east side of the mine, located outside Johannesburg in the country's northeast. The dispute was later resolved and production resumed on Thursday.
Gold Fields said it received demands from Monday's strikers, including for salaries of 12,500 rand, or roughly $1,500, a month, the same amount requested by Lonmin strikers. The Gold Fields strikers, 400 of whom marched to the company's office, also demanded new union leadership.
The strike suspended all output at KDC west, which produces about 1,440 troy ounces of gold a day. Gold Fields said it would meet with the workers.
South Africa's mining sector is reeling from strikes over the past month that have resulted in 44 deaths at Lonmin and have hit production of metals such as gold and platinum. The unrest also has exposed deep rifts in the country's labor movement, threatening a contagion of work stoppages in an industry that is a central component of South Africa's economic growth.
The disruptions come as new unions recruit for members and worker frustrations are fanned by political groups.
Police said Monday that about 3,500 protesters marched among parts of Lonmin's platinum mine, singing songs and carrying sticks and machetes.
The strikes started Aug. 10, when 3,000 rock drillers put down their tools at Lonmin's Marikana mine. Workers clashed in the following days, resulting in 10 deaths. On Aug. 16, police fired into a crowd of protesters, killing another 34 people.
At Anglo American Platinum Ltd.'s AMS.JO -0.21%Thembelani mine, several hundred workers refused to go underground in mid-August. Operations at a Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd. RBP.JO -0.47%mine were halted briefly at the same time. Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. IMP.JO -3.68%said it recently received a demand for a 10% wage increase, following a strike that shut its largest mine for six weeks in February.
The job actions spread into the gold sector with the events at Gold Fields and a clash between fired workers and security guards outside Gold One International Ltd.'s GDO.AU +3.90%mine this month. That dispute left four people in the hospital with wounds from rubber bullets.
"Social responsibility is, unfortunately, at the periphery of what we're doing and that is something that has to change," Vishnu Pillay, the executive head of Anglo American Platinum's joint-venture operations, said about the mining industry.
At the heart of many of the strikes are worker grievances over pay and the slow pace of change at mines since the end of apartheid nearly two decades ago. Amid that discord, the emerging Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union has been recruiting at mines with promises to get workers higher pay. That has sparked clashes with the country's largest mine union, the National Union of Mineworkers, an ally of the country's ruling African National Congress.
Expelled ANC youth league leader Julius Malema has visited Lonmin and Gold Fields mines, calling for workers to make the country's mining industry "ungovernable" and for South African President Jacob Zuma to resign.
Gold Fields said that during the eastern-section strike last week, workers said they wanted new NUM leaders. Many of the workers on strike at Lonmin have echoed the same views, saying that NUM has lost touch with the workers, is too close to mine management and too cozy with ANC leaders who have business interests in the country's mines.
Lonmin has struggled to get workers back at the mine. A government-backed attempt to broker a peace accord between mine management, unions and worker groups has floundered.
The strike has cost Lonmin 50,000 troy ounces of lost platinum production and, analysts estimated, about $100 million in revenue.
Lonmin and the parties were set to meet Monday to start wage negotiations. The salary demand of 12,500 rand is almost triple what many protesters say they make now after taxes. But Lonmin said the worker representatives failed to show.
Solidarity, a small union at Lonmin, said representatives of the wildcat strikers said they were too tired to attend the meeting and would return to work only when their wage demand was met.
perfect execution (no pun intended 
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