Sibanye reports pleasing platinum production for March quarter

JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Dual-listed Sibanye’s platinum division delivered pleasing results during the quarter ended March 31, producing 286 716 oz of platinum-group metals at an operating cost of R11 128/oz.

This resulted in operating profit of R243-million, excluding the equity accounted attributable operating profit of R119-million from its Mimosa mine.

The miner noted that the integration of the South African platinum operations continued to progress well.

“The Sibanye operating model has been implemented across the division and positive operating and financial performance momentum has already been noted. There has been a real 12% reduction in Rustenburg’s unit operating costs since Sibanye took control of the operation on November 1, 2016,” it stated.

After taking into account the revenue contribution from base metals and chrome, Kroondal, Platinum Mile and Rustenburg delivered attributable operating profits of R77-million, R15-million and R122-million respectively for the quarter.

This equated to a quarterly operating profit margin of 12%, 35% and 5% respectively for each operation.

Meanwhile, Sibanye’s gold production for the March quarter of 330 100 oz, was 9% lower than in the comparable quarter in 2016, mainly as a result of the cessation of mining operations at the Cooke 4 shaft in September 2016.

Gold in inventory at the end of December 2016 of 4 147 oz was sold during the March quarter, resulting in sales of 334 200 oz.

All-in sustaining costs (AISC) increased by 9% from R454 282/kg to R493 862/kg mainly as a result of the decrease in gold produced.