Workers strike at Mauritania gold mine owned by Canada's Kinross

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) - Employees at a Mauritanian gold mine owned by Canadian firm Kinross have launched an open-ended strike over wages and employment conditions, a union source said Thursday.

"The 1,500 Mauritanian workers, which represent 98 percent of the labour force at the mine, have begun an open-ended strike for equal wages for those doing the same job, better treatment of prospectors, better medical coverage, and respect of the labour code," said workers' spokesman Ahmed Ould Haki.

He said gold production at the Tasiast mine 400 kilometres (250 miles) northeast of the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott had been brought to a halt.

Thursday was a public holiday in Mauritania for the Muslim Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, but the management of the mine had intended to keep it operating.

Kinross owns 100 percent of the open pit mine which produced 185,334 ounces of gold equivalent in 2012, according to the company's website.

It estimates proven and probable reserves at the site at nearly 8 million ounces.