COMPANY COMMENT: Platinum woes spur Lonmin into K4 action
Lonmin may just have to come to the table to bring K4 into production. Who will it be?
Harsh financial realities mean companies are sometimes forced into actions, particularly around their assets, that they wouldn’t normally consider.The platinum mining sector is under considerable duress at the moment. Nearly two-thirds of operating mines are unfrofitable and the bare-bone numbers from Lonmin, which released interim results on Monday, show just how difficult the business is in a stressed environment. Lonmin is in the process of mining the last of the available platinum group metals from its first-generation shafts and is switching considerable focus and attention to its newer second-generation mines. The old mines are being worked over by contractors, who, in the interests of keeping their workforce gainfully employed, are extracting every ounce they can and finding extensions to prolong their presence on these mines. Lonmin is dusting off the studies of two projects that have long been on its shelves. The first is the suspended Limpopo mine that CEO Ben Magara point...
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