[miningmx.com] – ANGLO American Platinum (Amplats) said it would improve by more than a fifth on last year’s R1.47bn headline earnings loss, but stepped back from detailing the extent of the increase partly owing to industrial action.
In a trading update to the JSE, the platinum company in which Anglo American is the main shareholder, said exchange rate and metal price volatility, as well as the potential impact of industrial action, made it difficult to be definitive.
Amplats said it would a follow up trading statement in the new year ahead of its full-year results presentation which had been scheduled for February 3.
In a separate statement, Anglo American CEO, Mark Cutifani, said the platinum firm had signed a wage agreement yesterday of between 8.5% and 9.5% with the National Union of Mineworkers and UASA.
This did not remove the risk of industrial action at Amplats’ operations, however, as the Association of Mineworkers & Construction Union (AMCU) has won permission to strike at the mine following failure to resolve a deadlock over wages. The union said it would decide on whether to call a strike in January.
NUM’s settlement perhaps has important ramifications for Northam Platinum which is now into its second month of strike action following failed wage negotiations between it and the NUM. Northam has offered 8% to 9% wage increases.
In an announcement to the JSE, Amplats CEO, Chris Griffith said the firm was making “great progress’ with the restructuring.
He added that after debottlenecking at the concentrator, the firm’s Mogalakwena operation had the potential to produce 400,000 ounces of platinum a year by the end of 2017.
