The Kazakh authorities have been especially sensitive about industrial disputes since workers at a state oil subsidiary clashed with police in December in Zhanaozen, a town in the west of the country.
Reuters quoted a statement from Kazakhmys saying that work at the mine had been affected but that the workers hadn’t yet made any official demands. Other news source, though, say that the workers wanted promised pay increases.
The miners returned to the surface of the mine before staging their protest and a video posted by the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Lberty appears to show grainy footage of them holding terse, and ultimately fruitless, negotiations with the management.
The Annensky mine is located in central Kazakhstan near the town of Satpayev. It is one of six underground mines operated by Kazakhmys around the city of Zhezkazgan, the main focus of its mining activities.
Industrial disputes, because of their sensitivity, are rarely reported on by state media in Kazakhstan and this stand-off appears to be no exception. Despite the drama at the Annensky mine, it doesn’t appear to have made the agenda of the state news broadcasts.
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