Sibanye Stillwater dragged down by gold mines
The newly renamed miner’s platinum operations posted an impressive turnaround, but a lower gold price and lower gold output knocked it, and it took a big hit from R4.4bn in one-off costs
Sibanye — which has changed its name to Sibanye Stillwater — swung deep into the red in the half-year to end-June, a result that had been widely flagged ahead of its results presentation on Wednesday. It said group operating profit of R3.2bn was affected by a lower gold price and reduced gold production. Operating profit from its gold operations was R2.4bn — less than half the R5.3bn reported a year earlier. The average gold price fell to R523,303/kg from R603,427/kg a year earlier. Gold output fell to 21,418kg from 23,229kg a year ago. All-in sustaining costs rose to R485,441/kg from R448,922/kg. The South African platinum group metal (PGM) operations performed much better, posting operating profit of R505.5m, up sharply from R72.2m a year earlier, and the company said the turnaround was ahead of expectations. The Rustenburg mines have been included in Sibanye’s results since the period ending December 2016, and the Aquarius mines since June 2016. The US PGM operations are new, and...
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