Lonmin offers striking S Africa miners bonus

The strike-torn Lonmin platinum mine on Tuesday proposed a bonus to South African workers to end a six week stoppage and return to work Wednesday if they accept a wage hike offer. According to the offer written on a Lonmin letterhead, distributed to the workers on Tuesday, the miners will get a one-off bonus of 1,500 rand ($182, 140 euros) in addition to an offer already made in response to their wage demands. The world's number three platinum producer has already offered the workers a 1,875 rand ($227) pay increase on their basic monthly salary, which they initially turned down last week saying it was not enough. On Monday the workers agreed for the first time since they went on strike on August 10 to lower their monthly salary demand of 12,500 rand. The offer takes the gross monthly salary to just around 9,000 rands (around $1,100; 830 euros). The 1,500 rand bonus would be effective on condition the miners return to work on Wednesday. Negotiators met till the early hours of Tuesday seeking to end the damaging strike which has pitched the British mining group Lonmin against the miners in a sometimes violent dispute which has claimed 45 lives. Lonmin became the epicentre of a wave of unrest to hit the vital mining sector in recent weeks, with tensions forcing several firms to suspend operations in the country's platinum belt of northwestern Rustenburg. President Jacob Zuma warned Monday that the country could ill afford a recession over mine stoppages.