EWN reports that AngloGold Ashanti (AGA) and trade union Solidarity have each refuted a claim that the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) has sealed a deal with the gold producer to save more than 800 jobs at risk.  

AGA said that, although talks to mitigate job shedding started on Monday, it was premature to announce that retrenchments were not going ahead as planned.  The NUM announced on Monday that its meeting with AGA had been successful and that the company would no longer be retrenching workers.  But AGA’s Chris Nthite said this was not so.  He indicated:  "Engagement on that is still ongoing and next week there will be further engagements, so we haven’t reached any firm agreement at this stage."  AGA said that, while it wanted to find a resolution as soon as possible, it was unclear how long the process would take.  Solidarity’s Francois Redelinghuys said the CCMA still needed to appoint a facilitator for the process.

• This report by Victor Magwedze is at EWN

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