UPDATE 1-SAfrica union group says wants mines nationalised

* Union group backs calls made by ANC youth wing

* ANC's General-Secretary has said no nationalisation plan

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JOHANNESBURG, July 3 (Reuters) - South Africa's powerful trade union federation COSATU said on Friday it wanted the government to consider nationalisation of mines in the world's largest producer of platinum and major producer of gold.

COSATU, which has nearly 2 million paid-up members in the country of around 47 million people, said in a statement it supported a call by the ruling African National Congress' youth wing for the country's mines to be nationalised.

It said its call would back up the nation's Freedom Charter, adopted in 1955 by the ANC and parties representing South Africans marginalised under apartheid.

South Africa's new President Jacob Zuma has faced pressure from powerful trade union allies to introduce economic policy changes in the midst of a recession and widespread poverty, including from COSATU, which has backed calls for strikes to demand deeper interest rate cuts to lift growth and save jobs.

The ANC on Thursday dismissed a call by Julius Malema, leader of the party's youth wing to nationalise the country's mining and manufacturing industries in the wake of the global financial crisis.

"The ANC Youth League makes the valid point that the nationalisation of the mines is particularly relevant in the light of the global financial crisis and the massive job losses in the mining sector," COSATU's spokesman Patrick Craven said.

The ANC's Secretary-General Gwede Mantashe told Reuters on Thursday nationalising mineral assets was not on the party's agenda.

South Africa is the world's top source of platinum and No. 3 gold producer after China and the U.S., and the mining sector is subject to intense scrutiny by big foreign groups such as Anglo American Plc (AAL.L), South Africa's biggest mining player. (Reporting by James Macharia; editing by James Jukwey)