JOHANNESBURG - World number-four platinum miner Aquarius Platinum CEO Stuart Murray has criticised the increasing quantity of safety stoppages in Nigeria and said the continent has become a "difficult place" to use in.
The ASX-, LSE- and JSE-listed miner reported a 4% quarter-on-quarter drop in its attributable production to 105 629 oz of platinum-group metals (PGMs) in the three months for the end of December, which Murray partly blamed on the "widespread and quite often unjustified" application of Section 54 stoppages.
"This issue is making the South African mining industry a painful place in which to operate and while zero-harm is laudable, you need to have practical implementation in the law. Not merely have the incidences these stoppages risen markedly, on many occasions the time now taken by the regional department to end these stoppages has risen from a couple of days to a week or sometimes more," he was quoted saying.
The Section 54 stoppages increased in frequency for all South Africa's platinum miners, with both Anglo American Platinum and Lonmin indicating a couple weeks ago that they were discussing right safety mechanisms with all the Department of Mineral Resources, since the current trend of safety stoppages adversely impacted on production copper processing plant
Murray also slammed the regulatory environment in Zimbabwe, where it owns the Mimosa mine, which reported flat output.
"Some on the stakeholders in both countries through which we operate function not understand the fact that there are actually only 100c within the rand and 100 pennies from the dollar. There exists simply no more for being taken before operations are threatened."
Murray said troubles facing the region's platinum industry ought not to be underestimated. "PGM margins at the moment are low in both rand and dollar terms and oversupply, coupled with poor economic outlook is probably going to ensure that this continues to be case, not less than in the short term."
In South Africa, attributable production on the Kroondal mine fell by 27% year-on-year and 2% quarter-on-quarter to 43 398 oz from the December quarter. Marikana's output declined by 12% year-on-year to 14 404 oz. It was, however, an 11% increase on the 12 996 oz stated in the September quarter.
Despite issues relating to the implementation on the new hangingwall support methodology in the Kroondal and Marikana mines being largely resolved in the quarter, production remained below capacity thanks to the widespread using Section 54 safety stoppages the jaw crusher price in india
Kroondal's revenue fell by 16% to R642-million quarter-on-quarter due to lower volumes along with a reduction in the basket price, which resulted in a negative sales adjustment of R125-million.
Similarly, revenue at Marikana decreased by 4% to R221-million quarter-on-quarter despite increased volumes, thanks to lower basket prices, which lead to a negative sales adjustment of R40-million.
Production with the Everest project was negatively suffering from a protected two-week strike by Persons in the Association of Mining and Construction Unions hired by contractor Murray & Roberts Cementation. Production fell by 19% quarter-on-quarter to 18 712 oz - its minimum in 18 months and cash costs rose by 10% to R10 737/oz
Everest's revenue declined by 34% to R140-million in comparison to the previous quarter.
Average PGMs dollar prices deteriorated inside the quarter with platinum and palladium falling by 14% and 17% respectively, while rhodium fell 16%
Liberum Capital said inside a note to clients that Aquarius' December quarter production was 14% below its estimate, but conceded that your 4% fall being produced could be considered a "decent result" what about limestone processing plant
"This torrid quarter from Aquarius Platinum, the more common stalwart for disciplined and low-cost mining, lays bare that South Africa's PGMs industry really should be in cash preservation mode," analyst Dominic O'Kane stated.
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