South African gold firms brace for strike South Africa's four biggest gold producers are hoarding cash and lining up access to more as the companies prepare for what would be the first industrywide strike since 2011. Sibanye Gold boosted its cash balance sevenfold to 2.09 billion rand ($223 million) by June from December, AngloGold Ashanti has arranged to borrow more from banks if needed, filings show. Like their peers, Gold Fields and Harmony Gold Mining have scrapped dividends this month as unions prepare to ballot members over work stoppages. ""If we are, let's say, bullied into a situation that we don't like, we can ride out the storm for a very long period of time,"" Sibanye CEO Neal Froneman said. ""That was the reason behind putting cash in the bank."" The 142,000 miners at South Africa's seven-largest gold producers are preparing to bring the country's biggest mineral- export industry to a standstill, which the Chamber of Mines says would result in 349 million rand of revenue losses daily. The four largest producers say bullion's 16 per cent slump this year means a decade of above-inflation pay raises must be halted as they seek to reverse losses and avert a repeat of violence that has marred operations since last year. ""This is a tipping point of the industry,"" David Davis, a Johannesburg-based analyst at SBG Securities said. ""The gold mines are taking action to put their operations into positive cash flow at this gold price. Hunkering down on wages is part of that strategic plan. They can't afford it."" Entry-level underground workers earn 5000 rand a month before housing allowances and bonuses, according to the Chamber of Mines, which represents gold producers. The National Union of Mineworkers, which represents 64 per cent of employees, wants this to rise to 8000 rand and on August 21 got permission from a mediator to strike. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union, the second-biggest gold-labor group, is demanding an increase to 12,500 rand a month. CEOs have been less willing to negotiate this year, according to NUM. Their companies, engaged in wage talks through the Chamber of Mines, are considering locking out workers should their final offer not be accepted, chief negotiator Elize Strydom said yesterday. The chamber's offer on August 27 was for a 6.5 per cent raise in each of the next two years for entry-level employees in so- called categories 4 and 5 and 6 per cent for other bands, with a profit-share payment for all. Gold miners" salaries put them in the top 15 per cent of earners in South Africa and their pay can almost double if bonuses and allowances are in included, according to Harmony CEO Graham Briggs. Inflation for mineworkers, who typically support as many as 10 other people, is 9 per cent to 11 per cent a year, higher than South Africa's official rate of 6.3 per cent for July, NUM General Secretary Frans Baleni said last month. ""There's a very strong compact between the gold CEOs,"" Sibanye's Froneman said. ""This is not about one year. We intend to be here a long time and we need to end this vicious cycle of continuous increases of above inflation."" The lower bullion price caused AngloGold, Harmony and Gold Fields to post second-quarter losses and announce plans to cut costs. Sibanye, spun out of Gold Fields as a collection of South African mines in February, was the only one to make a profit, which was for the six months ended June.