JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) - More than 50 artisans at Impala Platinum (Implats) downed tools on Friday, accusing the world's second-largest platinum producer of racial discrimination.

The powerful National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) said that artisans at Implats' No 12 shaft had embarked on a strike, relating to pay discrepancy between black and white artisans.

"The workers believe the manner in which other artisans are paid is based on race, rather than experience, as the company claims," said NUM representative Simon Rasogo.

The NUM called on Implats to "rectify" the situation before Tuesday, or warned that it would call a secondary strike at the miner's other operations.

"A massive strike action will be rolled out across all Impala operations, which will see all our 22 000 members joining the strike, because an injury to one is an injury to all," commented Rasoga.

Meanwhile, Implats confirmed the work stoppage at the company's operations in Rustenburg, saying that the stoppage was limited to a small group of maintenance employees.

"Operations in Rustenburg are unaffected and management continues to engage with the union and employees to resolve the dispute," the company concluded.

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