Amplats fires 12,000 South African platinum miners

The world's biggest platinum producer, Anglo American Platinum, has fired 12,000 striking South African miners after a protracted strike over wages.

Amplats said three weeks of illegal strikes by 28,000 workers in Rustenburg had cost it 39,000 ounces in output - or 700m rand ($82.3m; £51m) in revenue.

South African mining has been hit by a wave of wildcat strikes, in which miners and officials have been killed.

Thirty-four platinum miners were shot dead by police on 16 August.

A separate strike is continuing at another mining firm, GoldFields, which is the world's fourth-largest gold miner.

On Tuesday, GoldFields evicted 5,000 striking employees from company dormitories, saying they were intimidating fellow workers.

In all, about 75,000 miners are currently on strike in the gold and platinum sectors, most of them illegally, analysts say.

Read more about the strike here.