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AMS AMSP
ANANP
AMS / AMSP - Anglo Platinum Limited - Anglo Platinum quarterly review and
production report for the period 1 January 2008 to 31 March 2008
Anglo Platinum Limited
Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa
Registration number: 1946/022452/06
JSE Codes: AMS; AMSP
ISIN: ZAE000013181; ZAE000054474
("the Company")
ANGLO PLATINUM QUARTERLY REVIEW AND PRODUCTION REPORT FOR THE PERIOD 1 JANUARY
2008 TO 31 MARCH 2008
HIGHLIGHTS
Highlights for the quarter under review include:
* The establishment of the Anglo Platinum Kotula Trust to facilitate a broad
based employee share participation scheme benefitting some 45,000
employees, holding on behalf of its beneficiaries, 2.5 million Anglo
Platinum shares representing 1.0% of the Company`s issued share capital.
* The signature, subject to fulfilment of conditions precedent, of the full
suite of legal binding agreements for the implementation of the Mvelaphanda
Resources and Anooraq Resources BEE transactions and submission thereof to
Department of Minerals and Energy for final review.
* The approval of the R7.1 billion (R5.9 billion real money terms) expansion
of the Twickenham mine in South Africa`s Limpopo province, which will
increase production to 250,000 tonnes per month or 180,000 ounces of
platinum a year from 2016.
* Full commissioning of the North concentrator at Mogalakwena (formerly
Potgietersrust) which produced its first ounces in March 2008.
* Rhodium contract sales terms successfully renegotiated.
REVIEW OF THE QUARTER
Anglo Platinum remains committed to its approach of creating a culture in which
safety is paramount, with effective learning from safety incidents to ensure `no
repeats`. Anglo Platinum`s Enhanced Safety Improvement Plan continues with the
objective of achieving `zero harm`.
Equivalent refined platinum production (equivalent ounces are mined ounces
expressed as refined ounces) from the mines managed by Anglo Platinum and its
joint venture partners for the first quarter of 2008 were 517,500 ounces, a
decrease of 19% when compared to the first quarter in 2007. The main factors
affecting production were:
* The disruption of operations at the Amandelbult mine as a result of
underground working areas being inundated by flood water. Dewatering of the
mine has proceeded according to plan and Anglo Platinum expects the mine to
be back in full production in the second quarter of 2008;
* Electricity supply constraints experienced in January and February and the
associated ramp up period when supply resumed. The ongoing impact of the
constrained electricity supply is expected to continue to have some impact
on production and expansion projects throughout 2008. The full extent of
this impact cannot be estimated with reasonable accuracy at present;
* Higher than planned mining from the lower grade North pit of the
Mogalakwena mine;
* The suspension of operations to rehabilitate shaft steelwork at the
Turffontein Shaft of Rustenburg Section. The rehabilitation work on the
Shaft was completed ahead of schedule with first production delivered in
March 2008.
* Contract labour related work stoppages at Rustenburg Section, Kroondal and
Marikana over a 5 day period during the quarter
The Kroondal concentrate off-take agreement with Impala was completed, as
expected, in the first quarter of 2008, resulting in increased concentrate
ounces delivered to the smelters.
Repair work at the Polokwane Smelter, as a result of the minor slag run-out, has
been completed and normal smelting operations have commenced. Due to Anglo
Platinum`s excess smelting and refining capacity, the shut down and repairs
required on the smelter are unlikely to impact on 2008 refined platinum
production, despite the increase in pipeline stocks in the first quarter of
2008.
Taking into consideration the factors mentioned above, and the increase in
pipeline stocks as a result of the Polokwane and Eskom outages, refined platinum
production decreased by 24% to 428,600 ounces, compared to the first quarter of
2007.
Resolution of the main factors which affected production in the first quarter,
other than the uncertainty of constrained electricity supply, is likely to
result in an increase in production over the remainder of the year. Accordingly,
Anglo Platinum`s production forecast for 2008 remains 2.4 million ounces of
refined platinum.
During the quarter Anglo Platinum concluded re-negotiating the terms of its
rhodium sales contracts that impact the portion of sales being made at prices
significantly below the spot price.
As a result of the revised contract terms, the specific details of which are
subject to contractual confidentiality, the price to be received by Anglo
Platinum will change during 2008 and 2009. Should the current spot price of
rhodium of $9,000 per ounce, the current rand / US$ exchange rate of 7.80 and
rhodium production at the 2007 level of approximately 330,000 ounces remain
constant for the remainder of 2008 and 2009 the impact of the contract re-
negotiations will result in an increase in Anglo Platinum`s earnings of
approximately R1.7 billion in 2008 and R3.0 billion in 2009 (earnings impact
examples unaudited).
PROJECT PIPELINE
Anglo Platinum remains confident of continued robust demand for platinum and is
continuing with its expansion programme. The rate of expansion is reviewed on
an ongoing basis against Anglo Platinum`s growth strategy. As part of this
strategy, Anglo Platinum is focused on increasing production and optimising the
value of its current operations.
In the first quarter of 2008 the Anglo Platinum Board approved the R7.1 billion
expansion of the Twickenham mine to expand current operations on the UG2 reef
horizon. The investment will see the mine, in South Africa`s Limpopo province,
increase production to 250,000 tonnes per month generating 180,000 ounces of
refined platinum a year from 2016. The Twickenham project is an integral part of
Anglo Platinum`s Eastern Limb (of the Bushveld complex) expansion plans. The
project will create 5,100 jobs, and most of the new employees will be recruited
from the local community and trained at the R283 million Mining Training Centre
being established at Twickenham.
In addition to Twickenham, projects in execution that will increase refined
platinum production capacity include Mogalakwena North and Amandelbult East
Upper UG2.
Selected major growth and replacement projects
Selected major projects completed
Project Completion Capex Production
date (R`bn) volume
No projects were completed during the first quarter of 2008.
Selected major approved projects
Project Completion Capex Production Quarterly
date (R`bn) volume progress
*
Mogalakwena 2009 5.3 Additional Plant
North 230,000 Pt oz commissioned
Project per annum in March
2008,
production
ramp-up
continues
Base Metals 2010 1.9 Additional Site
Refinery 11.0 ktpa Ni construction
Expansion per annum commenced in
the third
quarter of
2007 and is
on schedule
Lebowa 2010 1.2 Additional Preparation
Brakfontein 108,000 Pt oz for stoping
Merensky per annum operations,
Decline with
electric
drilling in
progress
Mainstream 2010 1.3 Improved Project
Inert Grind concentrator execution
Projects recoveries and detailed
design
commenced
Amandelbult 2012 1.5 Additional Production
East Upper 100,000 Pt oz ramp up
per annum remains on
schedule
Paardekraal 2014 2.3 Replacement of Significant
No. 2 Shaft 120,000 Pt oz issues being
per annum experienced
with shaft
sinking
operations.
Mitigation
planning in
progress
Townlands 2014 1.0 Replacement of Project
Ore 70,000 Pt oz progressing
Replacement per annum on schedule
Project
Twickenham 2016 7.1 Additional Project
Platinum 180,000 Pt oz approved in
Mine Project per annum February
2008
Selected major future unapproved projects
Project Production
volume
Amandelbult 4 Shaft 270,000 Pt
oz per annum
Slag Cleaning Furnace 2 Increased
smelter
efficiencies
Styldrift 200,000 Pt
oz per annum
* Nominal money terms at date of approval
CONSOLIDATED PRODUCTION STATISTICS
TOTAL OPERATIONS
Quarter 1 Quarter 1 Quarter
1 2008
ended 31 ended 31 vs
March March quarter
1 2007
Refined production 2008 2007 %
variance
Total refined
production
Platinum 000 oz -24%
428.6 565.1
Palladium 000 oz -25%
245.8 326.8
Rhodium 000 oz -27%
57.5 78.4
Gold 000 oz -12%
23.7 26.8
PGMs 000 oz -24%
838.4 1,105.8
Nickel 000 tons -26%
3.7 5.0
Copper 000 tons -30%
2.1 3.0
Production statistics and efficiency measures
Total tonnes mined 13%
and broken 31,634 28,065
Tonnes milled 000 -18%
8,781 10,699
UG2 mined to total % 10%
output (excluding 61 56
WLTR)
Built-up head grade g/ton -9%
milled, 4E 3.35 3.71
Equivalent refined 000 oz
platinum production
*
Mined -27%
428.3 589.8
Purchased 43%
100.1 70.1
Sold (10.9) (21.7) -50%
Attributable to 517.5 638.1 -19%
Anglo Platinum
Refined platinum 000 oz -24%
production 428.6 565.1
Mining 000 oz -31%
349.5 506.2
Purchase of 000 oz 34%
concentrate 79.1 58.9
Platinum pipeline 000 oz
movement 88.9 73.0
* Mine`s production converted to equivalent refined production using
Anglo Platinum`s standard smelting and refining recoveries.
Johannesburg, South Africa
29 April 2008
For further information, please contact
Trevor Raymond +27 (0) 11 373-6462, +27 (0) 82 654 8467
Sponsor
Merrill Lynch South Africa (Pty) Limited
Date: 29/04/2008 08:00:07 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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