Anglo American has fallen sharply, as industrial unrest broke out after its plans to restructure its South African platinum mines with the loss of up to 14,000 jobs.
The move - announced by Anglo's 80% owned subsidiary Amplats - was criticised by the government and unions despite the company maintaining it would create new jobs to replace those lost. Anglo plans to mothball two mines and sell another, in a reaction to falling platinum prices and rising costs.
But already workers have gone on strike at a number of Amplats mines, with the company saying:
Amplats confirms that a group of its employees at its Khomanani, Thembelani and Tumela mines have refused to go underground this morning and are engaged in an illegal work stoppage.
Separately Anglos's Kumba iron ore unit has warned its profits fell by around a third in 2012. Anglo's shares are currently down 77p to £18.84, a decline of nearly 4%. Morgan Stanley said:
The outcome of the platinum strategic review is encouraging. However, the execution period will be long and potentially volatile and the profit improvement does not look enough to lift returns to the cost of capital. A demand recovery is required, which looks unlikely near term.
