About 70,000 AMCU members downed tools in January at platinum mines run by Amplats, Implats and Lonmin to demand that their basic wages be more than doubled to 12,500 rand ($1,200) a month. Marred at times by violence, the strike has hit 40 percent of global production of the precious metal used for emissions capping catalytic converters in automobiles.

The five-month platinum stoppage appears to be winding down, as Amcu’s leaders report back at mass rallies beginning in Rustenburg today on a series of meetings with producers that concluded over the weekend. The meetings were with individual producers and aimed at putting the final touches of a wage deal to end South Africa’s longest and most damaging strike...