Mineworkers take part in a march at Lonmin's Marikana mine in South Africa's North West Province, September 5, 2012. More than 3,000 striking South African miners marched through streets near Lonmin's Marikana mine on Wednesday, the largest protest at the hot spot since police shot dead 34 of their colleagues last month. Police armed with tear gas and assault rifles deployed armoured vehicles and helicopters to keep an eye on the stick-waving protesters.

Some of the thousands of striking miners from the Lonmin platinum mine march to the gates of the Karee Mine as part of their mass action in an attempt to get high wages, Marikana, South Africa, Sept. 5. Many of the miners protesting today carried posters of their fallen comrades.

Police try to prevent striking mine workers marching to the Karee shaft at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa Sept, 5 to hand over a memorandum to mine management. Miners are refusing to return to work until their demands over low pay and working conditions are met.

Mineworkers pray on Aug. 31, over the coffin containing the body of Mpuzeni Ngxande, one of the 34 striking miners that were killed by police on August 16, in front of the rocky outcrop where the men were shot, an informal settlement near the Lonmin mine in Marikana, North-West Province. Talks to end a three-week strike at South Africa's Lonmin platinum mine, where violence claimed 44 lives, have been postponed to Monday after two days of negotiations failed to broker a deal. Mine managers, unions, workers representatives and government mediators are seeking a "peace accord" after the killing of 34 striking workers two weeks ago by police -- the worst day of police violence in South Africa since the end of white-minority apartheid rule in 1994.

Family members and colleagues of the late mine worker Andries Ntsenyeho, visit the scene of the shooting at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, on Aug. 31, after collecting his body at the morgue for a funeral. South Africa's justice minister is demanding the nation's top prosecutor explain a bizarre decision to charge 270 miners with the murders and attempted murders of 112 striking co-workers shot by the police. The Aug. 16 shootings that killed 34 and wounded 78 at London-registered Lonmin PLC platinum mine were the worst display of state violence since apartheid ended in 1994.

South African President Jacob Zuma adresses Marikana miners as he visits the Nkaneng Informal Settlement on August 22 in Rustenburg, South Africa. The President visited Marikana in Rustenburg to address workers at platinum company Lonmin, following the the Marikana tragedy in which 34 striking miners were shot dead and another 78 were wounded by police last week. 10 people were also killed in the week before Thursday's shootings, including two police officers and two mine security guards. Zuma was joined by the inter-ministerial committee investigating the violence.

South African President Jacob Zuma speaks to the leadership of striking Lonmin mineworkers during his visit to Marikana near Rustenburg, South Africa, Aug. 22.