Platinum processing continues at Amplats plant despite repairs

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) will still receive concentrate and deliver metal to customers despite the closure of a unit of its Anglo Converter Plant (ACP) last week when a water leak was detected, the company said on Wednesday.

The Johannesburg-listed miner, one of the world’s largest platinum producers, last week closed the Phase B unit at the ACP processing and refining plant after detecting a water leak in the high-pressure cooling section.

“will continue to receive concentrate from third parties and joint ventures … and will continue to deliver metal to customers,” the miner said in a statement without providing further detail.

Amplats said that repair work on the single cooler tube at the unit, part of a chain of processing facilities, would be completed next week with no impact expected on full-year refined production guidance of between 3.1 million and 3.6 million platinum group metal (PGM) ounces. The company last month completed repairs to the Phase B unit in Rustenburg, North West Province, after a blast shut processing facilities and it declared force majeure to suppliers of concentrate.

The repairs enabled the lifting of the force majeure, though repairs to the Phase A unit are not expected to be complete until the latter part of 2020.

The damage to the processing facilities forced Amplats to cut its production outlook in March.