Platinum mining companies Lonmin and Sibanye-Stillwater make a good fit at asset level, where the abutting of their mines can unlock synergies of R1.5-billion a year and preserve 20 000 jobs. Lonmin currently employs 32 500, which will go down by 12 600 in 2020, leaving close to 20 000, the majority of employees, with jobs. But, if the merger with Sibanye-Stillwater does not go ahead, even those 20 000 jobs will be at risk, which is why Lonmin CEO Ben Magara has made an impassioned plea for the authorities, particularly competition authorities, to approve the company’s consolidation plans with Sibanye-Stillwater as soon as possible, as the fastidious South African Reserve Bank has already done. Lenders have given Lonmin a long runway and regulatory bodies need to do so as well.