ARM latest PGM miner to seek mitigation with Amplats following shock force majeure

AFRICAN Rainbow Minerals (ARM) added its name to the platinum group metal (PGM) companies in discussions with Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) regarding the supply of concentrate following last week’s notice of force majeure.

Amplats said on March 6 that it would not be able to process any PGM concentrate produced by its smelters or supplied to it by third parties for at least 80 days following the failure of refining facilities at its Rustenburg plant.

Since a number of companies don’t have their own refining capacity, the force majeure will create a working capital build up: this is true for Royal Bafokeng Platinum (RBPlat), Siyanda Resources and now ARM which has a 50% stake in Amplats in the Modikwa platinum mine.

“ARM MC (Mining Consortium) will continue to deliver concentrate produced at Modikwa Mine to RPM (Rustenburg Platinum Mines),” said ARM in a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange today. “ARM MC is engaging with RPM to mitigate any negative impact on cash flow due to possible payment delays.”

RBPlat said yesterday (March 10) that it “temporarily acceded” to a request not to deliver concentrate to Amplats.

Amplats 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 oz less PGMs in the 2020 financial year as a result of the disruption at Waterval.