For the first time in 11 years Pan African Resources reported an annual loss, with a R1.78bn impairment against its shuttered Evander mine contributing to the company’s decision to withhold its dividend. Pan African became a gold producer in 2007 after six years as a loss-making exploration company dabbling in the Central African Republic, Ghana and Mozambique. It bought the Barberton mines from diversified miner Metorex and since then was a profitable, dividend-paying company listed in Johannesburg and London. During 2018, however, it shut the unprofitable Evander mine it bought for R1.5bn from Harmony Gold in 2013. It cut 1,635 jobs at Evander and took the R1.78bn impairment against the assets, pushing it into its first loss since buying Barberton. Pan African, which has a market capitalisation of R3.7bn, reported a R1.56bn loss for the year to end-June from a R310m profit the year before and it withheld its dividend, the second time it has done so since becoming a gold producer. ...
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