"Eoin certainly called this one right on time, well done, and thanks, as I also joined in, in a small way.

"There is an item on IG under Platinum - News : Reuters report 22Aug timed at 0758 under heading Militant S African union marches with Bible and Witchcraft which is worth reading. I can't seem to copy it, sorry, so you will look it up yourselves.

"Looks as if this just isn't going away any time soon.

"All the best, and as many of your correspondents say: Keep up the good work."

David Fuller's view Yes he did, and not for the first time. Thanks for alerting us to the article - one of the most informative on the AMCU that I have seen, and well done for seizing your opportunity in the markets. Here is a brief sample from the Reuters item:


The events at Marikana gave South Africans a frightening glimpse of the threats and violence that accompany the union turf war in which the AMCU admits it is fervently engaged.

Extensive television footage of the week-long standoff showed several thousand strikers carrying traditional weapons - spears, machetes and clubs known as "knobkerries" - massing like a Zulu "impi", or army, on a rocky hill near the mine.

Police, who said they fired in self-defence on Thursday, said the strikers also carried firearms.

The Marikana miners said they carried the weapons to defend themselves, but witnesses say there is a clear edge of aggression to the AMCU drive for membership and prominence.

At an AMCU rally attended last month by a Reuters correspondent, marchers sang: "Who is this NUM, how can we kill it?" The pungent smell of marijuana filled the winter air and the young men waved banners and sticks.

A pattern of violence and illegal stoppages has also characterised the AMCU's recruiting efforts from Implats to Lonmin to Aquarius Platinum.

At Marikana on Tuesday, some miners said they feared being attacked by AMCU members if they returned to work.

"These guys are very violent. We are afraid they will kill us if we go to work while they are striking," said a miner who did not want to be named. "I need my job but what will my family do if I am killed?"

The AMCU also has loose links to organisations rooted in the black consciousness movement of the 1970s, putting it firmly at odds with the multi-racialism preached by the ANC.

"They feel that as black people they are getting a raw deal because of the history of this country ... and they seem to use violence as a way to forge worker solidarity," said researcher Chinguno.

The AMCU's differences with the NUM even come down to language.

"The NUM, they come here and speak English because the uneducated workers do not understand it," Venter Mulutsi, an AMCU organiser at Implats, told Reuters.

AMCU rallies are addressed in Fanagalo, the lingua franca of South Africa's mines, which is a pidgin mix of Zulu, other African languages, English and Afrikaans.

"This is our language, it is the language of the mines," said Mulutsi.

This dispute has reminded platinum users, from automobile and truck manufacturers to the jewellery industry, that a small surplus from the main supplier can easily turn into a shortage. Scarcity can only enhance the appeal of platinum (weekly & daily) among investors.

So far, the white metal has rebounded from its yearend lows in a similar manner to the rally which commenced in January and it is pushing above the declining 200-day MA. If platinum can hold above this level, as we saw with gold yesterday, and consolidate gains above $1500, more people will conclude that it is breaking up from a base and forming a new uptrend capable of at least taking out the 2011 highs before yearend 2013.