Zimbabwe central banker stockpiles gold to bolster ZiG currency
The ZiG - short for Zimbabwe gold — is the nation’s sixth attempt at having a functioning local currency in the last 15 years.
South Africa’s Sibanye Stillwater on Friday said it expects its half-year profit to fall by as much as 53% due to weaker platinum group metal (PGM) prices and lower output from its US operations.
In a trading update, Sibanye said it expected to post headline earnings per share (HEPS) of between 1.98 rand and 2.18 rand ($0.1039-$0.1144) for the six months to June 30, down from 4.23 rand a year earlier.
Sibanye’s average rand basket price for its PGMs was down 22% while PGM production from its southern African mines was 848,723 ounces versus 849,152 a year earlier.
However, output from its US operations was down 11% at 205,513 ounces following shaft infrastructure damage at the Stillwater mine in Montana and ongoing skills shortages.
Gold production rebounded to 334,721 ounces after plunging to 191,683 ounces during a strike-hit first half of 2022. Still, its output remained well below levels above 500,000 ounces reached before the strike.
Sibanye will release its financial results on Aug. 29.
($1 = 19.0510 rand)
(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Jason Neely)
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