Recasts with U.S mine restructuring
By Nelson Banya
Sept 12 (Reuters) - South African miner Sibanye Stillwater SSWJ.J said on Thursday it will roughly halve its annual U.S. mined platinum and palladium production by 200,000 ounces in the face of low metal prices that pushed it to a half-year loss.
The Johannesburg-based company reported on Thursday a 7.1 billion rand ($394.42 million) loss for the six months to June 30, reversing a 7.8 billion rand profit during the same period last year.
Sibanye recognised a $407 million impairment on its U.S operations after cutting its forecast for palladium prices.
The average basket price for its platinum group metals (PGM), used by automakers in catalytic converters to curb toxic emissions, fell 28% over the six months compared to the same period last year.
Like its PGM producing rivals in South Africa, Sibanye has been restructuring its operations in southern Africa and the U.S to contain costs in response to lower prices.
Sibanye is South Africa's third largest PGM producer, after Anglo American Platinum AMSJ.J and Impala Platinum IMPJ.J .
While the U.S operations had been repositioned for lower production and cost, "further restructuring is to reduce cash outflows" as prices per ounce remained up to $400 below all-in-sustained costs, Sibanye said in a statement.
"The restructuring is likely to result in sustainable production from the U.S PGM operations reducing by approximately 200,000 ounces, with a consequent reduction in the workforce," it added.
The two U.S mines produced 238,139 ounces of platinum and palladium during the first half of the year. The company had initially forecast production between 440,000-460,000 ounces from the U.S for the full year.
Sibanye said it was close to securing up to $700 million in prepayment deals to shore up its balance sheet as it battles the financial impact of weak PGM prices.
The diversified miner has resorted to metals prepayment deals, which allow miners to sell their future production in return for an upfront cash payment.
The prepayment deals would involve chrome, gold and PGMs, it added.
On Aug. 21, Sibanye said it had finalised a 1.8 billion rand gold prepayment deal to raise cash to help repay loans.
($1 = 18.0011 rand)
(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Susan Fenton and Tomasz Janowski)