Platinum’s Worst Crisis in Decades Hits Jobs in South Africa

  • Big four producers are battling sharp slump in metal prices
  • Cost-cutting measures yet to include major production cuts
A miner at the Sibanye-Stillwater Khuseleka platinum mine.Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg
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South Africa’s platinum producers are in crisis, as slumping metal prices force jobs cuts and erode profits.

The nation’s platinum sector — which accounts for about 70% of global output — has been a key export industry and generates jobs for hundreds of thousands of people in a country with one of the world’s highest unemployment rates.