By James Macharia

JOHANNESBURG, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Mines in South Africa, the world's top producer of precious metals, will fall silent at midnight on Monday due to a national protest against mine deaths, with warnings of further action if fatalities continue.

"Companies cannot produce gold and platinum at the expense of workers, we want more safety training, maintenance, modern equipment and the government to deal with negligence," Senzeni Zokwana, president of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), told Reuters.

Almost a quarter of a million members of the country's biggest mining union will down tools in the one-day action, the first-ever national and industry-wide strike on safety, as the death toll in the mines, some of which are the world's deepest, rose over the weekend to near the 199 killed in 2006.

Mining companies and analysts forecast huge output losses across the sector as mines screech to a halt in the world's top source of gold, platinum, vanadium and key producer of coal, diamonds, iron ore, chromium, manganese, nickel and uranium.

Metals prices, especially for platinum <XPT=>, which is forecast by experts to end in a deficit this year, could jump even further on supply concerns, analysts said.

Union officials hope a strike will force firms to spend more to boost safety and make the government prosecute negligent mine managers to end what they call a "genocide", and cut the average death rate of 200 deaths a year by some 20 percent by 2013.

"We can't preclude further strikes in future, but we hope it doesn't come to that," Zokwana said.

Since Friday, two workers have died at mines of Anglo Platinum (Angloplat) <AMSJ.J>, the world's top platinum producer, and one each at Xstrata <XTA.L> and Gold Fields <GFIJ.J>.

Workers have been killed in rockfalls, explosions or buried underground after earth tremors, making the mines' some of the most unsafe in the world compared to Canada, Australia and the U.S. But companies argue that is partly because mining is more labour intensive in South Africa than in those countries.

OUTPUT LOSSES FEARED

Analysts said firms may not recover the lost one-day output.

"If you lose a blast, you've lost it forever," a Johannesburg-based analyst who did not want to be named said.

"The mines are not going to be safer the day after the strike, but let's face it, this step (by NUM) was coming. It (safety) has to be addressed."

Although companies would save on labour costs because the strike is under the "no work no pay" terms, they would lose out on fixed costs and revenues overall, analysts said.

One analyst estimated that some 900 kg of gold (28,935 ounces) in output and about 590 kg (18,969 ounces) in platinum output would be lost during the one-day stoppage.

In the line of fire are gold producers AngloGold Ashanti <ANGJ.J>, Gold Fields and Harmony <HARJ.J>, Angloplat, its second-ranked rival Impala Platinum <IMPJ.J>, all of which have had accidents or deaths at their mines in recent weeks.

Others are BHP Billiton <BILJ.J>, the biggest exporter of coal from South Africa, followed by Anglo Coal, a unit of Anglo American <AAL.L> and Xstrata Plc. Other coal producers that will be affected are Exxaro <EXXJ.J> and Sasol <SOLJ.J>, which is the world's biggest producer of motor vehicle fuel from coal.

Gold Fields has estimated a loss of some 200-300 kg in output, but BHP, Angloplat, Implats, Anglo Coal, and Kumba <KIOJ.J>, Africa's top iron ore producer, and others said they could only quantify any losses after the strike had ended.

Analysts worried that beyond the strike itself, a planned country-wide mines audit due to start this month as part of efforts to help curb mine deaths, may recommend costly changes to mining practices, which could hurt revenues even further.

One analyst said if the government were to require a re-design of underground mining structures such as building more support structure or holding more training sessions for workers, it may slow down the rate of blasting and ore output and may mean miners would spend time away from their work stations.

"The strike is just a prelude of things to come, things are coming to a head," Nick Goodwin, resources analyst at T Sec Securities said.

"Any changes to mine design as a result of this audit would affect costs, and hurt the companies' bottom line." (Editing by Michael Roddy)

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