JSE-listed Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) on Thursday confirmed that repairs to its subsidiary Rustenburg Platinum Mines’ converter plant were progressing on schedule for completion by May 25.
The company also said it did not foresee that any contracts would be terminated as a result of the plant repairs.
Amplats had to temporarily shut the converter plant as critical repairs needed to be made to a second converter plant that had water ingress, while the primary converter plant was damaged in an explosion in February.
While the second plant’s repairs would take 80 days, the repairs to the first plant would only be completed by the second quarter of 2021.
Amplats had since agreed on revised terms, on various of its contracts, with other miners for treatment of their material for the duration of the force majeure period.
Meanwhile, Amplats on Thursday said a full investigation was under way by the company to understand the cause and nature of the water ingress into the furnace of the second plant.
The majority of the replacement equipment could be obtained from the undamaged waffle coolers in the primary unit or spares available in inventory.
The company did not envision any supply chain disruptions, since all procurement of additional equipment was from within South Africa.
The estimated capital expenditure (capex) for replacement equipment and repair of the second plant would be between R150-million and R200-million, which would be incurred in 2020.
The estimated capex for rebuilding the primary unit would be between R500-million and R600-million, of which R100-million was expected to be incurred in 2021.
As a result of the repair activities that were under way, Amplats was reviewing its capital plans for 2020 and would provide a further update on the full-year capex guidance soon.
Amplats advised that it revised its yearly production guidance down to between 3.3-million and 3.8-million platinum group metal (PGM) ounces, from between 4.2-million and 4.6-million PGM ounces.