Miners at AngloGold Ashanti’s West Wits operations have returned to work, ending South Africa’s gold mining crisis.

The company had issued an ultimatum on Monday, demanding a return to work by midday on Wednesday or firings would commence.

Workers at AngloGold’s operations in the Vaal River region returned to their positions by the specified time, earning themselves a pay package increase – although the same increase that they had previously rejected in negotiations.

Some 12,000 labourers remained on strike at the company’s West Wits operations despite the deadline in the ultimatum having passed, and so on Wednesday the company commenced termination procedures against the workers.  However, negotiations continued, and AngloGold today announced a full return to work at all operations.

While the company can now resume full-scale production, it revealed that annual output levels to date are behind the expected output.  For the three months to end of September, the company disclosed an output of 1.03 Moz, significantly less than the expected figures of between 1.07 and 1.10 Moz.  AngloGold warned that the slowed output – which is a direct result of the strikes – will have a corresponding impact on financial figures which it is scheduled to unveil at the start of November.

As such, the South African gold sector can say it has come through the worst turmoil on record since the end of apartheid; although the platinum sector remains in trouble as 20,000 miners at Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) remain on strike with no view to an agreement being reached in sight.

On Thursday the National Union of Mineworkers announced that following three weeks of negotiations with employers within the gold industry, a wage increase agreement had been reached providing for increases in pay of between 1.5 and 10.8 percent for mineworkers across the spectrum of responsibilities.