Atlatsa incurs $292m loss
JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Toronto- and Johannesburg-listed platinum mining company Atlatsa, which has platinum assets on the northern and eastern limbs of the Bushveld Complex, incurred a net loss of $292.6-million in the nine months to September 30, when its liabilities exceeded its assets by $142.5-million.
The main reasons for the loss were a decrease in production volumes at Atlatsa’s Bokoni mine as well as the impairment of property, plant and equipment.
Bokoni’s operations remain cash negative after capital expenditures and Bokoni shareholders are no longer able to continue funding the mine’s losses, given the absence of reasonable turnaround prospects in the short to medium term.
Following Bokoni being placed under care and maintenance on October 1, all mining and concentrating activities have ceased and an employee retrenchment process has been concluded.
A team will carry out care and maintenance at the mine until December 31, 2019, until which time Rustenburg Platinum Mines will fund the care and maintenance.
Atlatsa’s asset disposal involves Rustenburg Platinum Mines acquiring the company’s Kwanda North and Central Block prospecting rights for R300-million cash and writing off all debt owed by Atlatsa, including debt incurred during care and maintenance.
Rustenburg Platinum Mine has extended a R521-million loan to Atlatsa for the duration of the care and maintenance period to enable Atlatsa to fund its 51% share of Bokoni’s care and maintenance costs.
The incorporation of the Central Block and Kwanda North prospecting rights into Rustenburg Platinum Mine’s bordering operations will increase the probability of their development, which could lead to potential future mining and employment opportunities, chief commercial officer Joel Kesler said in a release to Mining Weekly Online.
Atlatsa will retain 51% of the Bokoni joint venture and Rustenburg Platinum Mines 49%.
Bokoni’s production fell by 31.3% quarter-on-quarter to 253 115 t in the three months to September 30 and platinum group metals output fell to 31 427 oz compared with 44 463 oz produced.
Primary development decreased by 7% quarter-on-quarter to 1 402 m and re-development by 11.4% to 2 030 m.
Recoveries at the concentrator plant remained consistent at 90.2% for the Merensky concentrate and decreased by 0.3% to 86.8% for the upper group two concentrate.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation