South African gold miners that went on strike on Tuesday could damage the struggling economy, Susan Shabangu, the minister of mines, admitted this week.

She made this observation as the labour strikes in the construction and vehicle manufacturing sectors – which started last week – were already draining the struggling economy.

Shabangu, speaking to Reuters at a presidential briefing in Pretoria on Tuesday, admitted the South African economy could be hard-hit if it is prolonged.

“If there is a need for government to intervene, we will engage the parties,” she told Reuters.

The South African economy cannot afford the reduction in gold production because it is already struggling.

Reuters quoted economists as saying it was likely that the economy could lose more than $35 million a day with the gold mining strikes.

About 80 000 South African gold miners – led by the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) – went on strike on Tuesday demanding pay hikes.

NUM has been demanding wage hikes of up to 60 percent. But gold companies were only prepared to offer workers only a 6 percent hike but this was rejected by the workers last week.

Mining companies have cautioned that the labour action would force the closure of some of the mines with thousands of employees losing their jobs.

About 120,000 gold workers – which represent 64 percent of the South African gold mining work force – are members of the NUM.