(Adds details)
JOHANNESBURG, MAY 29 – Impala Platinum, the world’s
second largest platinum producer, said on Tuesday refined
platinum fell 46 percent in the three months to the end of March
and its embattled Rustenburg mine would return to pre-strike
levels in June.
The company had already said it lost 120,000 ounces in
production earlier this year to a violent, six-week illegal
strike sparked by a turf war between rival unions.
Implats said production in the three-month period fell to
230,000 ounces from 425,000 ounces in the same quarter of last
year. Production declined by 22 percent for the nine-months to
end March to 1.08 million ounces.
The battle between unions halted the company’s operations at
the world’s largest platinum mine.
The fight halted operations again last week but workers were
back at work within two days. The stoppage cost the company
3,000 ounces in lost production per day.
Implats said nearly 11,000 employees had resigned from the
National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), the industry’s largest
trade union.
It said NUM’s rival, the upstart Association of Mineworkers
and Construction Union, has approached the company to be
recognised as a union. AMCU officials told Reuters it had
enlisted more than 12,000 members at the Rustenburg operations,
Implats said output was also hurt by a reduction of third
party material processed by Impala Refining Services.
(Reporting by Sherilee Lakmidas; Editing by Jon Herskovitz)
© Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved
