Top Platinum Mines Keep Digging Even as Price at Decade Low
- South Africa is barely cutting output in oversupplied market
- Weaker rand reduces production costs for the nation’s miners
Photographer: Naashon Zalk/Bloomberg
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Platinum prices are languishing near the lowest in a decade, but the biggest miners are barely cutting production.
Although about half of South African output is estimated to be unprofitable, few companies are reducing production by a meaningful amount, with top supplier Anglo American Platinum Ltd. even ramping up. That’s partly because a weaker rand is lowering production costs, which is good news for margins and helps the embattled industry to keep the cash flowing.