JSE-listed African Rainbow Minerals (ARM) on Thursday confirmed it was engaging with fellow-listed Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats’) Rustenburg Platinum Mines (RPM) subsidiary to mitigate the negative impact on cash flow owing to possible payment delays.
Amplats last week announced it would need to temporarily shut down RPM’s converter plant owing to critical repairs to a second converter plant that had water ingress, while the primary converter plant was damaged in an explosion in February.
The repairs to the second plant were expected to take about 80 days, while the repairs to the first plant would be completed in the second quarter of 2021.
The plant treats melted matte in preparation for refining.
ARM subsidiary ARM Mining Consortium owns 50% of the Modikwa platinum mine, while the balance is held by RPM.
RPM indicated that it would not be able to complete the processing of concentrate produced at Modikwa mine until the repairs were complete.
ARM Mining Consortium will, however, continue to deliver concentrate produced at Modikwa mine to RPM.
Additionally, Amplats said it was unable to fulfil its duties under a purchase agreement with Royal Bafokeng Platinum.
Amplats has been in discussions with both companies to mitigate the impact of delayed duties.