South Africa strikers accept Amplats offer: labor leader

Striking miners at Anglo American Platinum's operations in South Africa have accepted the company's latest pay offer and are returning to work, a labor leader said on Thursday, bringing an end to two months of labor unrest.

The unit of troubled global mining giant Anglo American has been struggling to end the illegal strikes, part of a wave of often violent labor protests that have swept through South Africa's mines.

"All the workers are returning to work," Evans Ramokga, a strike leader at Amplats, told Reuters.

Amplats spokeswoman Mpumi Sithole said the management and the labor leaders were scheduled to meet Thursday morning.

"We have a feedback session with the strike committee. The offer that was presented will be signed this morning," she said.

Amplats said on Wednesday it expected 2012 earnings to fall by at least 20 percent as a result of lower sales volumes and strikes.

The country's gold and platinum sectors have been rocked by months of strikes that have resulted in over 50 deaths, mostly at the hands of police. Almost all of the affected gold operations are back to work.

(Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda; editing by David Dolan)