By Siphiwe Sibeko and David Dolan
BATHOPELE MINE, South Africa (Reuters) - Labour unrest sweeping through South Africa's mining sector hit top world platinum producer Anglo American Platinum on Wednesday, with stick-waving miners blockading roads leading to shafts and calling for a shut-down of operations.
At the firm's Bathopele shaft in the heart of the platinum belt, a column of 1,500 chanting marchers confronted riot police who were backed by armoured vehicles. The protesters jeered at workers inside the plant, a repeat of action taken on Monday at rival Lonmin's nearby Marikana mine, where police shot dead 34 protesters on August 16.
"We are here to say to the men that work here that you must join us in the strike. We are not here to fight," one man, who said he was an employee of Anglo American Platinum, also known as Amplats, told Reuters. He declined to give his name.
The platinum price jumped as much as 3 percent to $1,654.49 (1,028 pounds) an ounce, its highest since early April, amid fears of more disruption to supplies of the precious metal used in jewellery and vehicle catalytic converters.
South Africa is home to 80 percent of known reserves. The platinum price has gained nearly 20 percent since the police shootings at Marikana, the bloodiest security incident since the end of apartheid in 1994.
The "Marikana massacre" has poisoned industrial relations across the mining sector and become a potent symbol of the failure of the ruling African National Congress to deliver on promises to reduce poverty in the post-apartheid era.
The bloodshed and the government's inability to resolve the unrest undermining already shaky growth in Africa's biggest economy is also fuelling a campaign against President Jacob Zuma, who faces an internal ANC leadership battle in December.
Amplats said some operations had been halted by what it described as "widespread cases of intimidation".
Police said the trouble started with a confrontation between 1,000 demonstrators and mine security on Tuesday night before spreading to other shafts in the heart of the platinum belt around Rustenburg, 100 km (60 miles) northwest of Johannesburg.
Four Amplats mines near Rustenburg represent almost 17 percent of total production by the company, which accounts for 40 percent of world platinum output.
They employ more than 19,000 people, but have come under pressure since a collapse in platinum prices in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Analysts expect them to be targeted as "restructuring candidates" by Amplats parent company Anglo American.
"LIVING WAGE"
The strikes, which stem from a challenge by the small but militant Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) to the dominance of the ANC-affiliated National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), are also spreading into the gold sector.
The NUM said workers at the Beatrix mine, run by world No. 4 producer Gold Fields were set to strike this week, compounding wildcat industrial action already underway by 15,000 workers at the company's KDC West mine west of Johannesburg.
ANC renegade Julius Malema - the de facto face of an unofficial "Anybody But Zuma" rebellion in the ANC - is also fanning the flames, appearing twice at KDC to speak to striking workers.
He called on Tuesday for a national mining strike, and reiterated the cry in a radio interview on Wednesday.
"We are calling for mine change in South Africa. We want the mines nationalised. We want the workers paid a living wage," Malema said on Talk Radio 702, one of the country's most popular private stations.
Ministers and NUM leaders have dismissed him as an irresponsible opportunist but the expelled Youth League leader is achieving rock star status among the legions of poor whose lives have changed little in the 18 years since apartheid ended.
Malema has tapped into widespread workers' discontent with NUM bosses and ANC bigwigs who are accused of getting rich and cozying up to mine companies while ignoring the still harsh living conditions of many of South Africa's poor majority.
"All they know is to put the money in their pockets," said another Amplats protester, who called himself Mr. Anonymous, declining to give his name.
Shares in Amplats, which had largely avoided the labour unrest this year that had hit rivals Impala Platinum and Lonmin, fell 3.8 percent.
Anglo American, which owns 80 percent of Amplats, shed 3 percent in early trade although later recouped most of the losses.
(Additional reporting by Ed Stoddard and Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Pascal Fletcher and Peter Graff)