Record number of fatalities and low price makes for terrible interim period for Sibanye’s gold unit
However, aggressive growth strategy in platinum group metals that includes snapping up mines pays off handsomely
Sibanye-Stillwater’s gold division had a terrible interim period, with a record number of fatalities and a low gold price contributing to the sharp fall in the gold and platinum miner’s profit for the period. Sibanye, which started as a gold miner with just three mines, has embarked on aggressive growth in platinum group metals (PGMs), snapping up and consolidating mines around Rustenburg and buying the largest US producer of the metals, a strategy that has paid off handsomely as the gold base in SA came under tremendous pressure in the six months to end-June. Sibanye reported interim profit of R78m, a vast improvement on the R4.8bn loss in the same period a year earlier, when it recorded impairments of R2.8bn. Revenue for the company rose to R23.9bn from R19.3bn. Its pretax and royalties profit was R267m from a R5bn loss the year before.
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