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Amplats targets operating at 75% to 80% capacity by year-end

Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen

Amplats CEO Natascha Viljoen

18th June 2020

By: Marleny Arnoldi

Deputy Editor Online

     

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Platinum group metals (PGMs) miner Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) expects to ramp up its production to between 75% and 80% of capacity by year-end, CEO Natascha Viljoen said on June 18.

Viljoen explained that Amplats had started up 20% of its production profile after the Level 5 lockdown was eased to Level 4 in May, with good commodity prices and a strong balance sheet having helped the company to still pay salaries during the standstill and ramp-up periods.

The company had net cash of R11.8-billion at the end of March, despite suffering a production loss of 61 000 oz of PGMs during the first quarter of the year as a result of Covid-19 shutdowns.

Viljoen said the ramp-up to 80% of the company’s production capacity before the end of the year would allow the flexibility to comply with protocols and assumptions around infection rates.

She mentioned that the company’s infection rate forecast was aligned with international and national predictions.

The company has testing facilities including six polymerase chain reaction machines installed at its operations in Limpopo, North West and Zimbabwe. The company can do up to 900 tests for Covid-19 a day.

Amplats has conducted 675 tests on employees showing symptoms, with 24 cases having been cases confirmed at its managed operations.

Viljoen anticipates that 7% to 10% of its employees may be infected and the company is preparing accordingly.

She pointed out that the company would consider closing an operation if 20% of its employees were infected; however, the company was mitigating against this by separating working teams from each other to enable easier tracking and tracing should infections occur.

“We have looked at shift patterns and, in areas where we had three shift patterns, we have implemented a fourth back-up shift pattern to enable quick isolation of a team. We have also staggered the times that services are done at the mines, including deliveries.”

Moreover, Viljoen confirmed that the company’s Anglo Converter Plant Phase B unit had restarted production, after the company had to do urgent repairs since March 6 and declare force majeure on various contracts with fellow miners.

Repairs of the Phase A unit of the plant were expected to be completed before the end of the year.

The company maintains its yearly production guidance at between 3.1-million and 3.6-million ounces of PGMs, after it was revised down from more than four-million ounces in March.

The company will release its interim results in July and continue to review its capital allocation programme for dividend payments every six months.

Meanwhile, Amplats has implemented a 14-day quarantine exercise for employees that arrived back from high-risk areas after the Level 5 lockdown period.

The company is screening employees on a daily basis for Covid-19 symptoms and is providing flu vaccinations for increased immunity.

To date, more than 20 400 of its 24 500 employees have been screened.

Amplats is also implementing de-densification of transport and work spaces, while providing appropriate assistance to public transport providers to safeguard against spreading the virus.

Amplats communicates with its employees through an app and can send medical help if they are found to be ill while at home.

For employees who are unable to self-isolate at home, Amplats has 1 000 beds available for quarantine purposes at its operations.

The company has continued to pay the salaries of people that were not at work over the last three months, including medical aid, pension benefits and housing allowances. This amounted to about R1-billion.

Meanwhile, as part of its operational and corporate social responsibility response to Covid-19, Amplats has spent R150-million to date.

The company envisions that, by year-end, it will have spent at least R250-million on its response to the pandemic.

Amplats has put extensive measures in place to combat the spread of the virus in the workplace and its host communities.

Firstly, Amplats has a WeCare programme targeted at employees, which considers employees’ physical health, mental health and their dignity, while it also includes a community response, which considers the broader wellbeing of communities where Amplats operates.

All employees are required to self-screen for symptoms of the virus and log their results on an app every day before they report for work. Where symptoms are recorded, initial medical support is provided at home.

Amplats’ community response plan has involved food support, water supply, training, personal protective equipment (PPE) supply and other support to clinics and hospitals, radio and mobile education and awareness programmes, supporting community members who are exposed to gender-based violence and helping schools getting learners back to school.

“Our programmes have benefitted more than 100 000 households so far,” said Viljoen.

Amplats has delivered 3 000 food parcels in Limpopo, 1 000 in North West and 1 000 in Mpumalanga.

The company has provided water supply to more than 15 villages around its operations, including the Amandelbult and Mogalakwena mines. 

Amplats has supported 53 clinics and five hospitals with training and PPE, as well as various schools and small businesses.

The company donated R36-million to the national Solidarity Fund and R18-million to South African Future Trust. The company’s executive team agreed to take 30% pay cuts for three months in support of community response programmes.

Edited by Chanel de Bruyn
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor Online

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