Photo by: Creamer Media
JSE- and NYSE-listed precious metals miner Sibanye-Stillwater achieved improved production from all the operating segments in the second half of 2020, compared with the first half of the year.
Production of platinum group metals (PGMs) from Sibanye-Stillwater’s South African operations for the full-year ended December 31 totalled 1.58-million ounces, which includes attributable ounces from Mimosa.
This exceeded the upper limit of the revised yearly guidance of 1.35-million to 1.45-million ounces.
Sibanye's South African PGM operations produced 918 678 oz in the second half of the year, which was 40% higher than that produced in the first half.
Mined PGMs production from the company’s US PGM operations totalled 603 066 oz for the full year, which was marginally below revised guidance of 620 000 oz to 650 000 oz. This was primarily owing to the impact of a spike in Covid-19 infections at the operations in the fourth quarter of the year and associated with the second wave of Covid-19 infections in Montana.
Despite the Covid-19 disruptions, second-half production totalled 305 326 oz and was 3% higher than in the first half, with the production trend improving throughout that year.
Meanwhile, production from the South African gold operations (excluding DRDGold) totalled 809 941 oz for the full-year – 3% above revised guidance of 756 000 oz to 788 000 oz. Production of 406 321 oz for the second half of the year was 48% higher than gold output in the first half of the year.
Sibanye notes that the operational performance was achieved despite the ongoing implementation and observance of Covid-19 protocols to support the health and wellbeing of the company’s workforce and mitigate the onset of the second wave of Covid-19 infections.
CEO Neal Froneman says the manner in which the initial threat of Covid-19 was handled at the company’s operations in the first half of the year and the subsequent, safe return to normalised production levels by year-end was “extremely pleasing”.
“We continue to observe strict Covid-19 protocols at the operations as the health and safety of our employees remain our primary imperative. In the absence of unexpected disruptions, the group is well positioned to deliver a much more consistent and significantly improved operating result for 2021.”