ROYAL Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat) said it had “temporarily acceded” to a request not to deliver concentrate to the Rustenburg facilities of Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) pending the outcome of discussions between the two companies.
This is following declaration of a force majeure by Amplats on March 6 in respect of technical problems at Waterval where the company refines platinum group metals (PGMs) after buying PGM concentrate from suppliers such as RBPlat, and others. Amplats said it would take about 80 days before it could begin to process any concentrate.
The Anglo American-owned company suffered an explosion of one of its units on February 10 and then detected risk of an explosion at its second, back-up unit. It therefore decided to declare the force majeure until it was satisfied it could restart operations safely. It estimated it would process 900,000 ounces less PGMs in the 2020 financial year as a result of the disruption at Waterval.
The impact of this disruption will be significant working capital build for RBPlat which sells all of its concentrate to Amplats. Said RBPlat in a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange: “RBPlat and RBR (Royal Bafokeng Rasimone Mine, its main operating mine) are currently reviewing the force majeure notice.
“RBR currently sells all of its concentrate to RPM (Rustenburg Platinum Mines, Amplats subsidiary company) and is in discussions with Amplats and RPM to explore possible ways of addressing the issues raised by RPM.
“In the interim, while it considers all its options and without prejudice to any of its rights, RBR has temporarily acceded to the request not to deliver concentrate to RPM, pending the outcome of discussions with Amplats and RPM.
“The RBPlat board of directors will update the market as soon as it is in a position to quantify the near term impact of this development with greater accuracy, following its discussions with Amplats and RPM.”
