A higher platinum group metals (PGMs) rand basket price boosted by increases in palladium, rhodium and nickel resulted in an applaudable operational and financial turnaround by Impala Platinum (Implats) in the six months to end December. A year ago, Implats had a vulnerable balance sheet, negative operational cash flow, six fatalities and a huge headcount challenge at the then loss-making Rustenburg platinum. But a lot has changed and on Thursday the company was able to report equal output with 1 500 fewer people and flattened costs despite inflation.
