JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) − JSE- and LSE-listed Lonmin has lowered its full-year sales guidance to 720 000 oz, following industrial action by some 9 000 workers at its Karee mine, in early May.

Management completed an assessment of the impact on production of the industrial action and concluded that full-year sales guidance would be negatively impacted by around 30 000 oz, the platinum miner reported on Friday.

Unit costs would be negatively impacted owing to the lower production, and the guidance of an 8% increase in unit costs for the full year would be exceeded, it warned.

However, as operations have resumed at the Karee mine, CEO Ian Farmer said: "We have put this one off event behind us and anticipate having safely ramped back up to normal operating levels by August."

Lonmin has also largely completed the process of recruitment.

The unprotected industrial action at Karee followed a period of poor safety in March and April, which had resulted in lost production in these months.

The company had expected to recapture this lost production during the second half of the 2011 financial year. A large portion of this catch up would have come from Karee.

The Karee mine is located 80 km north-west of Johannesburg between Rustenburg and Brits, in the North West province.

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