As the pressure on Impala Platinum (Implats) eases in Zimbabwe around compliance with indigenisation demands, the world’s second-biggest platinum miner is acting on the far more pressing problems at its cash-burning mines in SA. Half of Implats’s output from its 11 shafts around Rustenburg was unprofitable for the first six months of its 2018 financial year to end-June and new CEO Nico Muller said there was an urgency to "normalise" operations in the heart of the company. Implats cut 1,400 jobs at a cost of R170m in the interim period, generating a R350m a year saving and has closed its old 4 Shaft, taking 10,000oz of production out of the group. Over the next two years it will shut its 1 and 9 shafts, removing a further 100,000oz. Until these shafts are shut the remaining reserves will be "harvested", meaning no capital will be invested in them. The 12 Shaft that accounts for 80,000oz will be shut in a similar time frame if productivity and costs do not improve or if the basket pri...
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