Over 80,000 South African gold miners on Wednesday went on strike over poor pay and unfavorable working Conditions in South Africa's biggest GDP earning sector.
The are calling upon the government to offer them an 10% icreament in addition to allowances and improved working conditions.
The strike comes barely a week after they were offered a 6% pay raise sometime last year which they rejected.
South Africa's gold industry is one of the biggest in the world.
But it has been in decline in recent years, while the platinum sector is still recovering from violence during last year's strikes.
Mine owners are warning it could lead to gold mines closing and thousands of jobs being lost, following a fall in the price of gold.
They say that their production costs have increased as they have had to dig ever deeper to extract gold.
The are calling upon the government to offer them an 10% icreament in addition to allowances and improved working conditions.
The strike comes barely a week after they were offered a 6% pay raise sometime last year which they rejected.
South Africa's gold industry is one of the biggest in the world.
But it has been in decline in recent years, while the platinum sector is still recovering from violence during last year's strikes.
It has been estimated that the gold miners' strike could cost South Africa more than $30m (£20m) a day in lost output.
They say that their production costs have increased as they have had to dig ever deeper to extract gold.
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