Anglo warns of $225m loss on back of strikes
MINER Anglo American will take a $225m (£143m) hit in this year’s results for its interest in its platinum operations, following violent strikes last summer.
Anglo American, which is due to report its annual results next week, said it will take the $225m as an underlying loss in respect of majority-owned subsidiary Anglo American Platinum.
Separately, Amplats, which is 80 per cent owned by its London-listed parent, yesterday posted an operating loss of ZAR6.3bn (£451m) for 2012, a drop of 180 per cent from a profit of almost ZAR8bn last year.
Lower sales volumes due to the two-month long strike that erupted in August last year, higher mining costs and lower platinum costs all weighed on the miner’s results.
Amplats said it produced eight per cent less refined platinum year on year, hit by the industrial action that erupted last summer that plagued many of its peers working across South Africa’s platinum belt.
Amplats chief executive Chris Griffith yesterday labelled 2012 “a challenging year” for the company and the platinum industry as a whole, adding that it was characterised by “increasingly volatile markets”.
Last month, Amplats unveiled a radical overhaul of its South African operations, involving the sale of a mine complex and the closure of several shafts. The restructuring could lead to the loss of up to 14,000 jobs.