Platinum group metals mining and marketing company Implats has upped its game at Impala Rustenburg to such a stunning extent that the 12 500 jobs that were earmarked for loss through shaft closure have all been preserved. Once doomed shafts are now operating at the same cost at which the company’s core shafts operate and they have not been saved by the increased prices of PGMs but as a result of improved collective operational effort. Hence, even if prices had remained at their 2018 levels when the shafts were set aside for closure, there would now be no reason for their closure, because they have surpassed expectations and returned themselves into the portfolio as profit contributors. The shafts have had their closure tags taken off them after generating R800-million worth of free cash flow in the six months to December 31. Because of their contribution, they have been taken out of closure mode, and have been declared integral parts of the portfolio once again, Implats CEO Nico Muller told Thursday’s roundtable media conference in which Mining Weekly participated.
