Gold producers with operations on the Witwatersrand were the hardest hit by Wednesday's stay away by members of Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).

Cosatu protested in Gauteng, the North West, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape on Wednesday as part of its series of one-day protests in each province, culminating in a nationwide stay away on 6 August.

Trade union members are protesting against rising food, fuel and electricity prices, which are fast eroding their members' monthly income.

Gold Fields (GFI) said 91 percent of underground night and morning shifts at its Kloof operations were absent from work, and while attendance in mechanised areas of South Deep was 90 percent, there was almost no attendance in other areas of the mine.

Gold Fields spokesperson Daniel Thole said it was "too early to assess the impact on production", but added that typical approximate daily production at Kloof was about 95kg.

"We anticipate all operations to be back to normal by tonight," Thole said.

At Harmony Gold Mining (HAR) Gauteng and North West, mines and surface operations supported the strike.

"We have contractors at work at some of the operations; we also have some of our plants processing for the next 12 hours," said Harmony spokesperson Amelia Soares, who added that mineworkers should return to work tonight to commence the night shift.

She said between 30kg and 32kg of gold would be lost.

AngloGold Ashanti (ANG) said essential services are running at all of its operations.

"In the West Wits area — that is Mponeng, Tau Tona and Savuka — we are experiencing very little impact from the strike action. Production has been able to continue," said AngloGold Ashanti spokesperson Joanne Jones.

But Jones said AngloGold Ashanti, South Africa's biggest gold producer, had been more heavily affected in the Vaal River area, where there would be some impact on production.

One of the main reasons for the low impact of the one-day stay away on AngloGold Ashanti is the fact that it has been holding "fairly intensive dialogue with the unions over the last weeks to mitigate the impact of the strike action."

"We understand the concerns that are being expressed by labour but at the same time our priority has to be to maintain production and to do so safely," Jones said.

Jones was not able to quantify the impact on production but said the company would be working in the coming months to make up any lost production.

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