Sibanye finalises agreements with Amplats to process its PGMs

JOHANNESBURG – Sibanye-Stillwater’s Marikana facilities will provide processing capacity to offset the impact of Anglo American Platinum’s (Amplats) force majeure following an explosion last month.

Sibanye-Stillwater said yesterday that it was finalising agreements with Amplats for processing all platinum group metal (PGM) material produced from its Rustenburg and Platinum Mile mines as well as about half of the PGM containing material produced from the Kroondal operations to limit the supply disruption caused by the unanticipated force majeure event.

Chief executive Neal Froneman said the management had optimised available capacity at the Marikana processing facilities allowing the group to minimise the potential impact on its contractual obligations to its customers.

“We welcome the finalisation of these arrangements with Anglo Platinum, which will largely offset the impact of the force majeure event on the Sibanye-Stillwater operations and result in a minimal impact on the production outlook for the South African PGM operations,” said Froneman. 

Earlier this month, Amplats announced the temporary shutdown of the entire Anglo Converter Plant (ACP), part of the chain of processing facilities, and declared force majeure.