Zimbabwe? Late Feb 2014"DESPITE all its economic and political...

Zimbabwe? Late Feb 2014

"DESPITE all its economic and political drawbacks, Zimbabwe still offers Impala Platinum (Implats) its most attractive growth prospects as the group’s mainstream operations in South Africa are hammered by the strike organised by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union.

Long viewed as a risky "blue sky" asset, Implats’ 87%-owned subsidiary Zimplats is now the only operation in the group that is still producing platinum for sale.

All the other mines have been either shut down by the strike or have been forced to stockpile their concentrate production because Implats’ Rustenburg smelter has been closed.

Zimplats increased its production 58% to 115,200oz of platinum for the six months to the end of last December and contributed headline earnings of R246m (previous comparable period was R73m) to Implats’ total headline profit of R860m.

Zimplats is ramping up to an annual 270,000oz of platinum production rate, which has been put in place by the phase 2 expansion at a cost of $460m.

The group’s much larger Impala division — consisting of all the major deep-level shafts near Rustenburg — increased refined platinum production 6% to 389,700oz but plunged into the red, recording a R171m headline loss compared with a R942m headline profit for the six months to December 2012.

In recent years, Zimplats has returned the highest profit margins in the Implats group because of its low cost and efficient mechanised mining operations."continues

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/mining/2014/02/28/implats-still-seeing-growth-in-zimbabwe

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Could Zimbabwe be making hay while SA neighbours strike?