Impala sees output rising

Impala Platinum says production will rise in the 12 months through June as the company recovers from major safety failures at its Rustenburg operations.

Johannesburg - Impala Platinum, the world’s second-largest miner of the metal, said production will rise in the 12 months through June as the company recovers from major safety failures at its Rustenburg operations.

Impala will produce at least 1.5 million ounces of platinum in fiscal 2017 compared with 1.44 million ounces in the year ended June 30, Chief Executive Officer Terence Goodlace said on a conference call on Thursday.

While Goodlace has made safety a cornerstone of the company’s strategy, 11 employees died in accidents at Impala during the financial year. The CEO announced his intention to resign in May, a day after an underground area at Rustenburg caved in, killing two employees.

The fatalities were “a devastating blow that reverberated across the group”, the Johannesburg-based company said in a statement Thursday. “The group is therefore enhancing its safety programmes to boost safe production compliance in a dependent safety culture.”

Impala’s headline earnings dropped 67 percent to 12c a share for the year to June 30, within the forecast range of 9c to 16c published August 22. Production at Rustenburg will be 700 000 ounces to 710 000 ounces for 2017, Impala said. It will then build up to the previous target of 830 000 ounces by 2020.

BLOOMBERG