By Nelson Banya
(Reuters) -South African miner Sibanye Stillwater said on Thursday it would roughly halve its U.S. mined platinum and palladium production next year, leading to about 800 job losses, in the face of low metal prices that pushed it to a half-year loss.
The company said production would be cut by about 200,000 ounces, with the Stillwater West mine placed on care and maintenance and expansion spending deferred at the East Boulder mine. The 800 jobs represent nearly half of its U.S. mine workers.
The U.S mines produce mostly palladium, prices of which tumbled 40% last year.
Sibanye’s shares were up 11.21% at 1258 GMT.
The Johannesburg-based diversified miner reported a 7.1 billion rand ($394.4 million) loss for the six months to June 30, reversing a 7.8 billion rand profit during the same period last year.
It booked a $407 million impairment on its U.S operations after cutting its forecast for palladium prices.
The average basket price for its platinum group metals (PGM), used by automakers in catalytic converters to curb toxic emissions, fell 28% over the six months compared to the same period last year.
Like its PGM producing rivals in South Africa, Sibanye has been restructuring its operations in southern Africa and the U.S to contain costs in response to lower prices.
Sibanye is South Africa’s third largest PGM producer, after Anglo American Platinum and Impala Platinum.
While the U.S operations had been repositioned for lower production and cost, “further restructuring is necessary to reduce cash outflows” as prices per ounce remained up to $400 below all-in-sustained costs, Sibanye said in a statement.
“The restructuring is likely to result in sustainable production from the U.S PGM operations reducing by approximately 200,000 ounces, with a consequent reduction in the workforce,” it added.
The U.S mines produced 238,139 ounces of platinum and palladium during the first half of the year. The company has forecast U.S. production of 440,000-460,000 ounces for the full year, but said that could be disrupted by the restructuring.
Sibanye said it was close to securing up to $700 million in prepayment deals to shore up its balance sheet as it battles the financial impact of weak PGM prices.
Prepayment deals allow miners to sell their future production in return for an upfront cash payment.
The deals would involve chrome, gold and PGMs, it added.
On Aug. 21, Sibanye said it had finalised a 1.8 billion rand gold prepayment deal to raise cash to help repay loans.
($1 = 18.0011 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Mark Potter)
