SA’s Impala closes platinum mine due to coronavirus cases

JOHANNESBURG - South Africa’s Impala Platinum said it would temporarily close its Marula mine after detecting 19 coronavirus cases among workers reporting back for duty at the site in northern Limpopo province.

“Implats has identified 19 positive cases during the week, all of them asymptomatic. Of these cases, 14 were identified as the result of proactive testing of employees returning to work. None of these employees had started work at the mine,” the company said in a statement at the weekend.

It said the site would not reopen until the appropriate health measures had been put in place. South Africa, the world’s No. 1 platinum producer, is gradually restarting operations in its key mining sector, which was shut down as part of a nationwide coronavirus lockdown now in its seventh week.

Authorities have eased the restrictions to allow mines to operate at 50 percent capacity, but labour unions have since won a court case against the government, forcing it to impose stricter safety guidelines.

Impala said it was concerned that 17 of the cases were from employees living in nearby communities, while two had travelled from another province, suggesting “the prevalence of Covid-19 among local communities is far higher than the company’s initial estimates.” South Africa has reported more than 13, 500 cases of the highly infectious respiratory disease, the most on the continent, with close to 250 deaths so far.

Meanwhile, Platinum demand will fall by 18 percent this year and supply by 13 percent as the coronavirus batters the global economy, leaving the market with a moderate surplus, the World Platinum Investment Council (WPIC) said yesterday.

In its latest quarterly report, the WPIC revised its forecast for oversupply this year in the roughly eight-million ounce platinum market to 247, 000 ounces from 119, 000 ounces.

– REUTERS.

JOHANNESBURG - Gold rose to the highest in more than seven years after the US Federal Reserve said stocks and asset prices could suffer a significant hit from coronavirus, and warned the process of economic recovery may stretch through until the end of next year. Palladium surged more than $100 in 20 minutes.

Commercial real estate could be among the hardest-hit industries should the health crisis deepen, the US central bank said in its