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Good raises end South African gold miners' strike
By Devon Maylie
MarketWatch.com
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/miners-end-south-africa-gold-strike-wit...
JOHANNESBURG -- Striking miners at South African gold mines should return to work by the end of the week after signing Tuesday a wage agreement that will see pay raises almost double the rate of inflation.
The miners' action is part of a series of strikes in South Africa over the past month that has led to a drop manufacturing, which banks said could lead to a lowering of the country's gross domestic product growth for the year.
July and August are traditionally periods of high worker stoppages as employees strike to back the unions negotiating with companies over the next year's wage increases.
Johannesburg-based Absa Group Ltd. on Tuesday forecast the South African economy to grow 3.5 to 4% this year, but the high number of strikes occurring right now could cause that figure to be lowered.
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Prophecy Platinum Reports 10.97 Million Ounces Inferred
and 1.04 Million Ounces Indicated PGM+Gold in Yukon
An independent resource report on the Wellgreen project in the Yukon Territory in Canada has just confirmed that it as one of the largest platinum group metals projects in Canada and one of the few outside South Africa, Prophecy Platinum Corp. Chairman John Lee says.
The report, compliant with Canadian National Instrument 43-101, was written by geologist Todd McCracken of Wardrop Engineering Inc., a Tetra Tech company. It incorporated drill data from 701 diamond drill holes (182 surface and 519 underground) totaling more than 53,222 metres. Using a 0.4 percent nickel equivalent cutoff grade, the Wellgreen deposit now contains a total inferred resource of 289.2 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.53 g/t platinum, 0.42 g/t palladium, 0.23 g/t gold (1.18 g/t PGM and gold), 0.38 percent nickel, and 0.35 percent copper. Separately, the deposit also contains an indicated resource of 14.3 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.99 g/t platinum, 0.74 g/t palladium, 0.52 g/t gold (2.25 g/t PGM and gold), 0.69 percent nickel, and 0.69 percent copper.
Prophecy Platinum Corp. trades on the Toronto Venture Exchange under the symbol NKL, on the pink sheets in the United States as PNIKD, and in Frankfurt as P94P.
For the complete press release on the Wellgreen report, please visit:
http://prophecyplat.com/news_2011_july14_prophecy_platinum_new_resource_...
Already economic data are showing a drop in productivity. July's factory activity fell to a two-year low, according to a poll released Monday by the Bureau of Economic Research and sponsored by the Kagiso Group. Workers in the metals and engineering sector were on strike from July 4-18.
The mining unions and gold mining companies signed a two-year agreement for a rise of between 8 and 10%, depending on the level of worker experience, the union Solidarity said.
Since Thursday, around 200,000 miners from both Solidarity and the National Union of Mineworkers have been on strike at gold mines across the country over a problem with the annual pay increase.
This latest deal follows the conclusion of a coal strike Monday and the resolution of an almost three-week long strike in the petroleum and refinery sector that ended last week.
However, unions are still negotiating with platinum miners and the utility Eskom Holdings Ltd.
The companies affected by the coal and gold strike include Anglo American PLC, AngloGold Ashanti Ltd., Gold Fields Ltd., and Harmony Gold Mining Co. South Africa is the world's fifth largest gold producer.
Harmony estimates it lost 500 kilograms of gold output on account of the strike.
"The unions have indicated that the striking employees will start returning to work later today," the Chamber of Mines said.
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Golden Phoenix Q2 2011 Conference Call Posted at Company Internet Site
The second quarter 2011 conference call of Golden Phoenix Minerals Inc. (GPXM) has been posted at the company Internet site for immediate playback. The call includes updates on the start of gold production at the company's Mineral Ridge gold project in Nevada, the letter of intent to acquire the Santa Rosa gold mine in Panama, and the company's due-diligence efforts to secure a senior stock exchange listing.
The conference call is 18 minutes long and you download an mp3 of it here:
http://www.goldenphoenix.us/audio/GPXMCC071211.mp3
Or play back the call here:
http://goldenphoenix.us/conferencecalls/
Golden Phoenix is a U.S. mining company with international exposure to gold, silver, and strategic metals. The company's business model combines project generation and royalty mining that offers the potential for exploration upside, coupled with the backing of production and future royalty streams. View company videos here:
