3,000 rand ($387-$464) per month. The strike paralysed the South African mines of the world's No. 2 gold producer AngloGold Ashanti, fourth-ranked Gold Fields, sixth-placed Harmony Gold and South Deep, Barker said. The smaller South Deep is a joint venture of South Africa's Western Areas and Canada's Placer Dome. Gold mining firms, which gave workers a 10 percent wage rise two years ago, had said they could not afford rises much above inflation, which is running just below four percent. South Africa accounts for around 15 percent of global gold output, and the mining sector contributed 6.6 percent to the country's gross domestic product in the first quarter of 2005. So far the strike has had little impact on the spot gold price, but had hammered South African gold stocks, which recovered on the prospects of an end to the strike, with the gold sector index closing 2 percent higher. Recent weeks have seen work stoppages over wages by supermarket clerks and national airline staff and a strike by municipal workers.
