2,400 South African miners trapped

Some 2,400 miners found themselves trapped half a mile beneath South Africa's bush veldt when militant trade unionists mounted a wildcat protest against the suspension of four shop stewards. The action at Thembelani mine, owned by Anglo American Platinum, was the latest episode in the industrial unrest that threatens a central pillar of South Africa's economy. Last year, strikes cost the miningindustry over £1 billion and the violence surrounding them claimed at least 50 lives. Nature has endowed South Africawith immense natural wealth: the country possesses the biggest platinum reserves in the world and provides two thirds of global supply of theprecious metal.