Thousands of South African mine workers return to work after a five month strike over pay.<br/> <br />These were the scenes at the Marikana operations of platinum producer Lonmin.<br/> <br />Workers lined up for medical and other checks before descending into the shafts to begin production.<br/> <br />This has been the longest and most costly strike in the country's history.<br/> <br />The union behind the strike had initially called for a doubling of miners' basic wages<br/> <br />In the end, its members settled for increases that amounted to around 20 percent annually.<br/> <br />The fallout from five months of production lost mean that the world's three biggest platinum firms who run the mines say that job cuts and restructuring are now inevitable.
