De Beers upbeat on Botswana diamond pact after meeting new president
De Beers' CEO said he expected negotiations on a new diamond sales pact with Botswana's government to be wrapped up within weeks.
South Africa’s Anglo American Platinum’s operational challenges, which pushed its first half profit 71% lower, have been resolved and performance will improve in the remainder of the year, CEO Natascha Viljoen said on Monday.
Amplats’ headline earnings per share (HEPS) – the main measure of corporate profit in South Africa – fell to 29.84 rand ($1.66) in the half-year that ended June 30, from 101.40 rand a year ago due to production challenges and weaker prices for platinum group metals (PGM).
The world’s top PGM company by value said its realised basket price per PGM ounce of $1,885 was 29% lower compared to the same period last year, worsening the impact of production challenges.
Viljoen said production at Amplats’ biggest mine Mogalakwena had been hit by an 11-week plant breakdown, lower grades and electricity supply disruptions. Amandelbuilt, its second most productive mine, was also impacted by infrastructure closures and poor ground conditions.
“Those were the headwinds in the first half. They are sorted, we’ve seen the production already coming through so we trust that from an operational point of view, we’re well set up for the second half,” Viljoen told Reuters.
Amplats has maintained its production guidance for 2023 between 3.6 million ounces and 4 million ounces, despite a 13% decline in refined output in the first half.
Viljoen, who will soon leave the company to join Newmont Corp as chief operating officer, said the appointment of her successor was imminent.
“The process is quite robust and the announcement is imminent,” Viljoen said on a media call, without giving a date.
Amplats declared a dividend of 12 rand per share, down from 81 rand per share during the same period last year, returning 3.2 billion rand to shareholders.
($1 = 17.9924 rand)
(By Nelson Banya; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Louise Heavens and Miral Fahmy)
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