Reuters has pieced together a detailed account of the final days of a five-month strike in South Africa's platinum mines, the longest and most costly industrial action in the country's history

Following are key dates in the strike and its conclusion:

Jan 23 - Around 70,000 members of the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) go on strike at Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J), Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J) and Lonmin (LMI.L) demanding higher wages

May 26 - Ngoako Ramathlodi sworn in as new mines minister

May 28 - Ramatlhodi gets personal approval from President Jacob Zuma to do whatever is needed to end strike

May 29 - Talks mediated by Ramatlhodi start

June 6 - Talks end for the week, with Ramatlhodi saying a deal is imminent

June 7 - Ramatlhodi says he is pulling out of mediation

June 9 - Talks break down. AMCU leader Joseph Mathunjwa says negotiations are deadlocked

June 11 - Bishop of Pretoria Jo Seoka and lawyer Dali Mpofu broker a face-to-face meeting between Mathunjwa and Lonmin CEO Ben Magara. They shake hands on an "in principle" wage deal, but Mathunjwa does not sign

June 12 - Platinum companies announce "in principle" deal to shareholders in coordinated stock-exchange releases in Johannesburg and London, as Mathunjwa reads out details at mass meetings around the Rustenburg platinum mines

June 23 - Miners voice approval for a final deal at another mass meeting at a Rustenburg soccer stadium

June 24 - Wage deal signed