Commodities
Implats Slashes Spending as Profit Falls on Low Metal Prices
- Company plans to save $520 million over the next five years
- Miner has paused diversification ambitions due to pressures
The Impala Platinum shaft 1 mine tower in Rustenburg, South Africa.
Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. plans to cut spending by more than half a billion dollars over the next five years, after fiscal first-half profit plunged 88% on lower metal prices.
The company known as Implats joins its South African peers — Anglo American Platinum Ltd. and Sibanye Stillwater Ltd. — in reporting a slump in earnings as the markets for platinum, palladium and rhodium declined sharply last year. Implats has yet to follow its rivals in announcing thousands of potential job cuts in its home country, but Chief Executive Nico Muller said that if ongoing restructuring efforts aren’t enough, the miner is prepared to suspend production at unprofitable shafts.