Implats shares up despite furnace

IMPALA Platinum’s share price rose 5.5% to R40.09 yesterday morning, despite the mining group lowering its refined metal target because one of its furnaces would be out of production until next month.

The group said yesterday it raised the amount of ore milled by 9.6% to 6.74 million tons in the September quarter, which is the first quarter of its financial year.

But the amount of refined platinum it produced declined 6.6% to 341 200 oz from the matching quarter in 2016, due to planned maintenance of furnaces.

“During the maintenance of the Impala No 5 furnace, excessive wear in some areas became apparent and a decision was taken to completely refurbish it. As a result, the furnace is now only scheduled to come back online from December,” Impala said.

The group said it was lowering the amount of refined platinum it expected to produce in the financial year under way because of the delay in getting the furnace back into operation.

Impala, which produced 1.53 million ounces of platinum in the year to end-June, said it expected to produce between 1.51 million ounces and 1.56 million ounces in the financial year under way.

The improvement in the amount of ore mined was due to a much stronger operational performance at Impala, compared to a poor first-quarter performance in the prior corresponding period, Impala said in the production update.

In its September quarter 2016 production report, Implats said ore milled at its Rustenburg mine fell 18.6% due to safety stoppages and a conveyor damaged in an underground fire.

“We are pleased to note early signs of improvement in efficiencies and production levels at the Impala Rustenburg operations in line with planned interventions.

“Zimplats, Mimosa and Two Rivers delivered another strong operating performance during the quarter, while Marula, which has undergone an organisational restructure recently, delivered a pleasing turnaround and an increase in concentrate production,” CEO Nico Muller said in the production report. — DDC