Bad news from SA’s platinum belt has pushed shares of the world’s second-largest producer of the metal to the lowest since 1999. Impala Platinum (Implats) has dropped 40% so far in 2018 as investors fret over glitches at its Rustenburg operations and cost ratios that compare unfavourably with some peers. The biggest producer after Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) on April 26 cut its production forecast for 2018 by about 3% and said it was taking steps to improve output and cost performance. Some investors were pricing in a profit warning and a potential capital raising by Implats, said Ryan Seaborne, a money manager at 36One Asset Management. "They have cut guidance by 100,000oz to 560,000oz for full-year 2018 and this is only a few months after they already lowered guidance," he said, referring to the Rustenburg operations. The reduced production at Rustenburg could mean Implats had reached its break-even rate and the "operation is sailing close to the wind", Rene Hochreiter, an a...
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