KDC mine

In the aftermath of the Marikana massacre, workers at KDC West – formerly known as the Driefontein mine and by then the west section of KDC – entered an unprotected strike on 9 September, seeking a wage increase, among other demands.[3][4] On 21 September, the strike spread to the west section of Gold Fields's Beatrix mine in the Free State; by 24 September, the entirety of the Beatrix mine had been affected.[3] Thus, by 25 September, the majority of the workforce at both mines – 15,000 employees at KDC West and 9,000 employees at Beatrix – were on strike, and Gold Fields halted production at both mines.[4][3] Imitating the Lonmin workers at Marikana, Gold Fields strikers gathered and held vigil on a hill near to the mine.[5] Gold Fields ordered the striking workers to vacate the mining hostels, where it said they had intimidated other workers and planned criminal activities;[5] the hostels were later raided by Gold Fields private security, supported by SAPS.[6][7] On 12 October, over 70 Gold Fields miners were arrested for public violence in connection with the strike.[8] In response, several days later, the KDC West strike was joined by approximately 8,500 of the 12,400 employees employed at KDC East.[9] With both sections of the KDC mine now affected – and 19,500 workers participating in KDC's workforce of 26,700 – Gold Fields suspended production at the entire KDC mine.[10] However, the Gold Fields strike began to approach its resolution about a week later, when Gold Fields began issuing a series of ultimatums to its workers, threatening them with dismissal if they did not return to work. Many of the Beatrix employees returned on 16 October,[11] and most of the KDC West employees followed on 18 October – though Gold Fields had to follow through on its ultimatum, firing 1,500 KDC West employees who did not show up for work before the deadline.[12][6] However, an ultimatum[8] failed to end the strike at KDC East and led Gold Fields to fire 8,100 workers there; most of those fired were later reinstated when the KDC East strike finally ended in early November.[13]