Talks on a restructuring are set to take place this month

The National Union of Mineworkers' (NUM) said 21,000 of its members would return to work on Wednesday evening.

It has been fighting job cuts but the agreement only covers working practices - the official reason for the walk-out, Reuters reported.

Harmony, world's sixth-biggest gold producer, said the strike had cost it $18m (�9.5m) in lost revenue.

"The parties have reached an agreement in principle that the issues in dispute have been adequately addressed," Harmony said.

About 90% of the workforce at the Harmony and Freegold sites took part in the strike.

Still tense?

Harmony has announced plans to restructure operations at its loss-making mines in Free State that could bring up to 5,000 jobs cuts.

The company is to hold separate talks with the unions later this month to discuss the restructuring plan, Reuters reported Harmony marketing director Ferdi Dippenaar as saying.

The gold producer has been hit hard by the weak dollar's impact in pushing up the rand as many of its mines are based in South Africa.

The company is also currently involved in a hostile takeover for Gold Fields, a merger which would create South Africa's largest gold producer.