Platinum miners loath to take lead on output cuts

Profit prospects are poor for South Africa's platinum miners as they collectively hold back from making the deep production cuts necessary to reduce a market surplus and force higher prices. They have felt some respite this year from the...

Anooraq hikes wages 9%, studies synergies with Amplats

Anooraq Resources, which owns the Bokoni platinum mine in South Africa together with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats), on Wednesday said it agreed to a 8% to 9% a year wage increase for workers at the operation, effective July 1. The company...

First Uranium names new directors

TSX- and JSE-listed First Uranium on Wendesday said it had appointed three new directors, Hugh Cameron, Normand Champigny and Thabo Mosololi, while David Cohen had left the board. Cameron, an accountant, was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers,...

SA by-product rights fiasco is a messy business

Oh, what a tangled web we weave. Another fiasco has erupted relating to South Africa’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), this time involving world number-three platinum producer Lonmin, and it could have other mining companies scrambling...

Are SA's platinum juniors 'dead in the water'?

Serious questions are being asked about the viability of South Africa's platinum juniors and hopefuls, as one analyst after another slashes price forecasts for the white metal. With funding options rapidly evaporating, and an uncertain demand...

Implats earnings climb 73% to R12bn

Impala Platinum (Implats), the world’s number-two producer of the precious metal, on Thursday posted a 73% rise in headline earnings to R12,5-billion for the year to June 30, after higher prices more than offset a marginal drop in refined metal...

BHP unlikely to make bid for Implats – analysts

It was improbable that BHP Billiton would bid for global platinum number-two Impala Platinum (Implats), analysts said on Thursday. The company said before that the safety risks associated with South Africa’s deep-level mines were a deterrent to...

BHP unlikely to bid for Implats – analysts

It was improbable that BHP Billiton would bid for global platinum number-two Impala Platinum (Implats), analysts said on Thursday. The company said before that safety risks associated with South Africa’s deep-level mines was a deterrent to...

Xstrata-target Lonmin may struggle to defend £33-a-share bid – analysts

Platinum producer Lonmin might find it difficult to defend diversified miner Xstrata’s £5-billion bid, but a sharp rise in the white metal’s price would provide it refuge, analysts said. Also key to the bid’s potential success will be...

Platmin secures $200m debt facility for SA platinum mine

TSX- and Aim-listed Platmin has finalised a joint mandate and term sheet with the Standard Bank of South Africa and Standard Chartered Bank, which will act as joint lead arrangers and underwriters for a $200-million debt facility, the company...

Angloplat headline earnings surge to record R8,4bn, output tumbles

Despite Anglo Platinum’s (Angloplat’s) period-on-period production tumbling by nearly one-fifth for the six months ended June 30, the world’s biggest miner of the white metal said on Monday that headline earnings had risen 22% to a record...

Lesego Platinum delays JSE listing indefinitely

Turbulent markets and negative sentiment in the platinum sector have pushed platinum fledgling Lesego Platinum’s planned JSE listing back indefinitely, the firm said on Monday. It was to have debuted on Thursday, but it would now only pursue...