VALTERRA Platinum today forecast a precipitous decline in interim earnings owing to heavy rains in the first quarter which led to the suspension of production at Amandelbult, the platinum group metal miner’s Limpopo mine.
The company also registered the R1.4bn cost from its demerger from Anglo American, completed on May 28. Anglo demerged is platinum unit in order to focus on copper, iron ore and mineral fertiliser production.
The outcome for Valterra was a year-on-year 76% to 88% decline in headline earnings for the six months ended June, equal to R1.6bn to R800m.
Some 300 millimetres of rain fell in a day which flooded Amandelbult’s Tumela shaft. “It was a one in 100,000 year event,” said Craig Miller, CEO of Valterra in an interview earlier this month. “An estimated 100mm of rain fell between two and three oclock in the morning,” he said.
Valterra said on the whole Amandelbult was likely to produce about 100,000 oz less concentrate this year than in the 2024 financial year (between 450,000 to 480,000 oz in 2025 compared to 580,000 oz in 2024) as a result of the rain.
Valterra said it expected to meet its full year production guidance, “albeit at the lower end”, of two million ounces in own production and between one million to 1.2 million ounces in third party supply for a total of up to 3.2 million oz in concentrate. Refined PGM production for the year was guided to three to 3.4 million oz.
The impact of the floods was communicated with the market which explains why Valterra’s share price was 4.5% higher today – driven by 7% and 16% improvements in the prices of platinum and palladium respectively in the last week.
“We continue to consider Valterra as one of the go-to stocks in the sector, relative to some of its peers that face significant challenges on the back of the low PGM basket price,” said Arnold van Graan, an analyst for Nedbank Securities.
Van Graan said Valterra had “lagged its peers” owing to a stock overhang related to Anglo’s residual 19.9% stake in the firm and the possibility of flowback from Anglo shareholders not mandated to hold it. Van Graan said Valterra “could surge if prices continue to rally and the operational outlook is positive”.
Miller said the repair and recovery work at Amandelbult had “progressed well”. The Dishaba Mine and Tumela Upper restarted in April and Tumela lower was successfully recommissioned in June 2025. Tumela remains on track to be at steady-state in the third quarter, he said.
Analysts say that the reduction in sales volumes – 25% year-on-year; 22% quarter-on-quarter – would push Valterra into net debt. This comes six months after Anglo American extracted its then listed subsidiary’s cash via a dividend.
Miller said previously he expected the company to be cash neutral at least by the end of the group’s financial year.
The decline in earnings was partially offset by cost savings of R2.1bn achieved in the period, said Valterra.
