(Corrects dividend to 195 cents, not 60 cents)
* Implats operations “stable” despite tensions at Lonmin
* Cuts FY2013 capital by almost 1 billion rand
* Targets FY2013 production of up to 1.55 million ounces
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 23 (Reuters) – World No.2 platinum
producer Impala Platinum has warned that industrial
action at South Africa’s platinum mines, resulting in the death
of workers at Implats and its rival Lonmin ,
could become more widespread.
A violent six-week strike at Implats’ Rustenburg operations
early this year sliced 21 percent off its full-year production
and, combined with declining metals prices, led to a sharp cut
in its dividend, to 195 cents a share from 570 cents last year.
“The platinum industry is experiencing increased levels of
industrial action, as witnessed at both Impala Rustenburg at the
beginning of this year and more recently at Lonmin, with the
associated tragic loss of life. These developments pose a
significant risk to the industry,” said Implats’ newly installed
chief executive Terence Goodlace.
Describing the labour relations at Implats’ operations as
“relatively stable”, Goodlace said the trade union rivalry that
sparked the strike at both its operations and Lonmin’s
was still “fairly volatile”.
A bitter turf war between the entrenched majority National
Union of Mineworkers (NUM) and rival Association of Mineworkers
and Construction Union (AMCU) has already spilled over to
surrounding mines in the Rustenburg area and analysts are
worried about a contagion hitting gold producers.
Continued…
