South African striking gold miners were set to head back to the shafts Friday night to end a crippling strike after producers made a new wage offer.

South African striking gold miners were set to head back to the shafts Friday night to end a crippling strike after producers made a new wage offer.

"Indications are the majority of mines will be back at work by this evening," the Chamber of Mines, which represents seven gold producers hit by a wage strike, announced.

The National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), which represents some 70,000 striking workers, earlier said many of its members had accepted the offer and were in the process of ending the strike.

Producers have upped their offer slightly to between 7.5 percent and 8.0 percent in a bid to avoid protracted industrial action.

The agreement with the unions "has helped us prevent a longer period of damaging industrial action and remains a reasonably balanced outcome in terms of affordability and jobs preservation," said the producers' chief negotiator Elize Strydom in a statement.

Tens of thousands of gold miners had on Tuesday night refused to go underground demanding higher wages in the latest in a string of strikes to hit South Africa.

The miners now await the final outcome of talks between the union's leadership and workers on the new offer.

"This may possibly mark the end of the strike," said NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka.

The NUM and a smaller union, the United Association of South Africa (Uasa), "have indicated their members will accept the improved offer," said AngloGold Ashanti, the world's third-biggest bullion producer, which employs some 28,000 workers.

Gold firms said while most had accepted and were busy winding down their industrial action, workers at Harmony, the world's number five producer, were still not at work because "certain matters remain under discussion."

In addition to the increase on the basic pay, the workers will receive housing allowances of around 2,000 rand ($197 / 150 euros).

The NUM had originally demanded a 60-percent hike in wages as it battles to remain the dominant union in the gold sector.

Striking employees at Sibanye Gold's Kloof operations had resumed work on Thursday night, bringing production to 80 percent of planned capacity, it said.

Smaller operators Village Main Reef and Evander, which together employ around 5,000 people, clinched deals earlier, less than 24 hours into the strike.

The seven firms represented by the Chamber of Mines had at the peak of the industrial action reported that 16 of 23 mines were severely affected by the strike.

Police meanwhile denied a claim by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) that at least five of its members had been assaulted for not striking.

"Those reports have been proven to be false. We can say loud and clear that nobody was assaulted, nobody was intimidated," said Welkom city police spokesman Stephen Thakeng in Free State province.

The AMCU, a radical union which is in competition to the NUM, has not called a strike. It said the aggression against non-strikers occurred at the Sibanye Gold mine near Welkom.

The mine management was unaware of the incident.

The AMCU will decide at the weekend on pay demands and whether to down tools or not.

Gold remains a key industry in Africa's largest economy, accounting for 10 percent of export earnings and three percent of Gross Domestic Product.

Falling gold prices, a declining grade of ore and increased costs such as electricity and wages, have drained gold firms' revenues.

Industrial action is common in South Africa during the mid-year months, when thousands of workers down tools for higher pay. The gold strikes follow ongoing stoppages in the construction and automobile sectors.

Observers feared similar unrest to widespread strikes last year, sparked by a police crackdown at Lonmin's Marikana platinum mine which left 34 dead.

But this year strikes have been relatively calm