Kim Ludbrook / EPA

Striking miners from the Lonmin platinum mine march to the gates of the mine in Marikana, South Africa, on Sept. 10.

Themba Hadebe / AP

Alexander Joe / AFP - Getty Images

Thousands of South African miners marching to the Lonmin mine on Sept. 10.

Reuters reports: Around 10,000 striking South African platinum miners marched from one Lonmin mine shaft to another on Monday, threatening to kill strike breakers, as another illegal stoppage hit Gold Fields, the world's fourth biggest gold miner.

Wage talks to end the month-long Lonmin strike, which erupted in deadly violence last month, failed to start as scheduled. The independent labor mediator said it could only take part in the process if workers returned to work by a Monday deadline, but the vast majority stayed away. Full story

Themba Hadebe / AP

Miners hold up sticks and a large blade as they march to the Lonmin mine on Sept. 10.

Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

Related links on PhotoBlog:

• Miners gather to pray for South African shooting victim at site of violence
• Mourners gather on the "Hill of Horror" at the site of mine shootings
• Mourners pay tribute to victims of South Africa mine shooting
• South African President Jacob Zuma addresses miners following shooting
• South African women protest police shooting of striking miners
• South Africa police fire on striking miners, killing 34

Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

A policeman fires at protesting miners outside a South African mine in Rustenburg, 62 miles northwest of Johannesburg on Aug. 16.

GRAPHIC WARNING: This post contains graphic images which some viewers may find disturbing.

Updated at 3:15 a.m. ET Friday: South African police opened fire on Thursday against thousands of striking miners armed with machetes and sticks at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine, killing 34 people.

The shooting is one of the worst in South Africa since the end of the apartheid era.

A Reuters cameraman said earlier on Thursday he saw at least seven bodies after the shooting, which occurred when police laying out barricades of barbed wire were outflanked by some of an estimated 3,000 miners massed on a rocky outcrop near the mine, 62 miles northwest of Johannesburg.

Reuters reported: Police opened fire with automatic weapons on a group of men who burst out from behind a vehicle. The volley of bullets threw up clouds of dust, which cleared to reveal at least seven bodies lying on the ground, Reuters television footage showed.

The Marikana strikers have not made their demands explicit, although much of the bad blood at the mine stems from AMCU's challenge to the two-decade dominance of the National Union of Mineworkers, which is closely linked to the ruling African National Congress.

• South Africa police fire on striking miners, several dead
• PhotoBlog: South Africa mine protest continues amid fatalities

AP

Striking mineworkers throw stones as police open fire at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa, Aug. 16.

Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

A paramedic receives help from a policewomen as he tends to the injured after protesting miners were shot outside a South African mine in Rustenburg.

AP

Police surround the bodies of striking miners after opening fire on a crowd at the Lonmin Platinum Mine near Rustenburg, South Africa on Aug. 16. South African police opened fire Thursday on a crowd of striking workers at a platinum mine, leaving an unknown number of people injured and possibly dead. Motionless bodies lay on the ground in pools of blood.

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Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

Striking miners chant slogans outside a South African mine in Rustenburg on Aug. 15, 2012. Thousands of striking miners armed with machetes and sticks faced off with South African police on Wednesday at Lonmin's Marikana mine after it halted production following the deaths of 10 people in fighting between rival unions. Lonmin, the world's third-largest platinum producer, has threatened to sack 3,000 rock drill operators if they fail to end a wildcat pay strike that started on Friday at Marikana, its flagship mine.

MARIKANA, South Africa (AP) — Thousands of angry South African workers met Tuesday on a rocky cliff within sight of their platinum mine shuttered by violent protests, shouting demands for more pay over the roar of circling police and military helicopters. Read More

Siphiwe Sibeko / Reuters

A striking mine worker brandishes his weapons outside a South African mine in Rustenburg on Aug. 15.

Jon Gambrell / AP

Striking miners gather on a hillside at the Lonmin mine near Marikana, South Africa on Aug. 15.

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