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LON
LOLMI
LON - Lonmin Plc - Second Quarter 2010 Production Report
Lonmin Plc (Incorporated in England and Wales)
(Registered in the Republic of South Africa under registration number
1969/000015/10)
JSE code: LON
Issuer Code: LOLMI & ISIN: GB0031192486 ("Lonmin")
10 May 2010
Lonmin Plc
Second Quarter 2010 Production Report
Lonmin Plc, (Lonmin or the Company), the world`s third largest PGM producer,
today announces its production results for the three months to 31 March 2010
(unaudited).
Our core underground Marikana mining operations produced 2.6 million tonnes
during the second quarter of the 2010 financial year, essentially in line with
the same period last year, whilst tonnes milled from these operations were also
flat with the prior year period at 2.5 million tonnes. Conventional operations
at the property produced 2.1 million tonnes during the period, a decline of 0.1
million tonnes from the prior year period, mainly due to the planned closure of
two decline shafts in 2009. Production from K3 shaft during the period was in
line with the second quarter of 2009, however, the shaft suffered from
significant Section 54 safety stoppages during the period. The impact of Section
54 safety stoppages across the Marikana property during the quarter was around
65,000 lost tonnes, which is better than the impact in the prior year period of
122,000 lost tonnes. Production at Saffy and Hossy shafts continued to ramp up
during the second quarter of 2010, increasing by 41% over the prior year period.
As highlighted in November 2009, we re-commenced production at a Merensky
opencast pit at Marikana at the end of the period. Pandora underground
production increased by 6% during the second quarter of 2010 from the prior year
period.
Due to the planned closures of opencast operations at our Marikana property and
the Pandora joint venture in 2009, total tonnes mined from our operations for
the second quarter of the 2010 financial year declined 2% year-on-year to 2.6
million. Total tonnes milled were down more, at 8%, to 2.5 million tonnes, as a
result of opencast stock piles being milled in the prior year period.
Platinum in concentrate from our Marikana operations was 154,578 saleable ounces
during the second quarter of 2010, increasing by 2% from the prior year period.
This was due to achieving better levels of grade and concentrator recoveries
during the quarter compared to the prior year period. In total the concentrators
produced 160,019 saleable ounces of Platinum in concentrate for the quarter, a
3% decrease from the second quarter of the prior year, due to the impact of
closing the Pandora opencast operations in 2009.
Underground milled head grade was up to 4.74 grammes per tonne (5PGE+Au), from
4.69 grammes per tonne (5PGE+Au), having been sustained from the first quarter
of 2010. This was a result of a number of factors including cleaner mining
across the property, a better ratio of stoping to development material at Hossy
and Saffy as well as a better ore mix.
Underground concentrator recoveries improved slightly to 84.7% from 84.5% in the
first quarter of the 2010 financial year but were up significantly from the
81.4% achieved in the second quarter of 2009. This was as a result of the
factors impacting head grade and due to continued benefits from our concentrator
optimisation programme, excellent plant availability and a rigorous focus on
batch milling the right ore through the right concentrators.
Refined production for the second quarter of 2010 declined by 2% to 181,135
ounces of Platinum and 344,036 ounces of total PGMs. Metal sales during the
second quarter of the 2010 financial year declined by 1% to 182,878 ounces of
Platinum and 353,844 ounces of PGMs.
Lonmin Plc also publishes today, in a separate announcement, its Interim Results
for the half year ending 31 March 2010.
ENQUIRIES:
Investors / Analysts:
Tanya Chikanza +44 (0) 207 201 6000
Acting Head of Investor Relations
Media:
Cardew Group +44 (0) 207 930 0777
Rupert Pittman / James Milton
Financial Dynamics +27 (0) 21 487 9000
Dani Cohen / Ravin Maharaj
3 months 3 months
to to
31 Mar 31 Mar
2010 2009
Actual Actual
Tonnes Marikana Underground - 000 2,572 2,584
mined total
Underground - 000 2,128 2,269
conventional
Underground - 000 444 315
Hossy & Saffy1
Opencast 000 7 13
Total 000 2,579 2,598
Pandora Underground 000 39 37
attributabl Opencast 000 - 41
e2
Total 000 39 78
Lonmin Underground 000 2,611 2,621
Platinum
Opencast 000 7 55
Total 000 2,618 2,676
Tonnes Marikana Underground 000 2,453 2,462
milled3
Opencast 000 - 78
Total 000 2,453 2,540
Pandora4 Underground 000 78 88
Opencast 000 - 126
Total 000 78 214
Lonmin Underground 000 2,531 2,550
Platinum
Head grade5 g/t 4.74 4.69
Recovery rate6 % 84.7% 81.4%
Opencast 000 - 205
Head grade5 g/t 0.00 4.61
Recovery rate6 % 0.0% 71.3%
Total 000 2,531 2,754
Head grade5 g/t 4.74 4.68
Recovery rate6 % 84.7% 80.6%
3 months 3 months
to to
31 Mar 31 Mar
2010 2009
Actual Actual
Metals in Marikana Platinum oz 154,578 151,168
concentrate
7
Palladium oz 72,579 70,285
Gold oz 3,129 3,444
Rhodium oz 22,124 21,191
Ruthenium oz 33,543 32,617
Iridium oz 7,353 7,110
Total PGMs oz 293,306 285,815
Nickel8 MT 615 642
Copper8 MT 377 405
Pandora3 Platinum oz 5,441 13,742
Palladium oz 2,531 6,194
Gold oz 37 110
Rhodium oz 871 1,909
Ruthenium oz 1,289 2,789
Iridium oz 224 515
Total PGMs oz 10,394 25,259
Nickel8 MT 8 13
Copper8 MT 5 8
Lonmin Platinum oz 160,019 164,909
Platinum
Palladium oz 75,110 76,479
Gold oz 3,166 3,554
Rhodium oz 22,995 23,100
Ruthenium oz 34,832 35,406
Iridium oz 7,577 7,625
Total PGMs oz 303,700 311,074
Nickel8 MT 623 655
Copper8 MT 381 412
3 months 3 months
to to
31 Mar 31 Mar
2010 2009
Actual Actual
Metallurgy Lonmin Platinum oz 180,956 184,969
refined
Metal
Production1
2
Palladium oz 79,325 86,637
Gold oz 4,028 5,151
Rhodium oz 21,381 25,939
Ruthenium oz 47,117 47,614
Iridium oz 10,502 9,935
Total PGMs oz 343,310 360,245
Toll Platinum oz 179 315
refined
metal
production
Palladium oz 63 -
Gold oz - -
Rhodium oz 485 573
Ruthenium oz - 1,009
Iridium oz - 184
Total PGMs oz 727 2,081
Total Platinum oz 181,135 185,284
refined
PGMs
Palladium oz 79,388 86,637
Gold oz 4,028 5,151
Rhodium oz 21,866 26,512
Ruthenium oz 47,117 48,623
Iridium oz 10,502 10,119
Total PGMs oz 344,036 362,326
Base metals Nickel9 MT 883 869
Copper9 MT 526 579
Sales Refined Platinum oz 182,878 187,250
Metal Sales
Palladium oz 81,783 92,439
Gold oz 5,393 5,940
Rhodium oz 22,039 21,636
Ruthenium oz 50,360 41,833
Iridium oz 11,390 9,392
Total PGMs oz 353,844 358,490
Concentrate Platinum oz - (1,600)
and other10
Palladium oz - (1,822)
Gold oz - -
Rhodium oz - -
Ruthenium oz - -
Iridium oz - -
Total PGMs oz - (3,421)
Lonmin Platinum oz 182,878 185,651
Platinum
Palladium oz 81,783 90,617
Gold oz 5,393 5,940
Rhodium oz 22,039 21,636
Ruthenium oz 50,360 41,833
Iridium oz 11,390 9,392
Total PGMs oz 353,844 355,069
Nickel9 MT 814 693
Copper9 MT 523 503
3 months 3 months
to to
31 Mar 31 Mar
2010 2009
Actual Actual
Average Platinum $/o 1,535 991
prices z
Palladium $/o 432 195
z
Gold $/o 1,110 901
z
Rhodium $/o 2,467 1,099
z
Ruthenium $/o 173 47
z
Iridium $/o 447 384
z
Basket price of PGMs11 $/o 1,103 666
z
Basket price of PGMs11 R/o 8,432 6,631
z
Nickel9 $/M 15,309 16,285
T
Copper9 $/M 6,404 6,953
T
ExchangeRat Average rate for period13 R/$
es 7.49 9.90
Closing R/$
rate 7.28 9.49
Footnotes:
1 Hossy and Saffy are replacement/growth shafts in ramp up. Hossy is
fully mechanised whilst Saffy has conventional stoping but mechanised
development. In previous production reports this section showed all
M&A/Hybrid mining. All comparatives have been restated.
2 Pandora attributable tonnes mined includes Lonmin`s share (42.5%) of
the total tonnes mined on the Pandora joint venture.
3 Tonnes milled excludes slag milling.
4 Lonmin purchases 100% of the ore produced by the Pandora joint venture
for onward processing which is included in downstream operating
statistics.
5 Head grade is the grammes per tonne (5PGE + Au) value contained in the
tonnes milled and fed into the concentrator from the mines (excludes
slag milled).
6 Recovery rate in the concentrators is the total content produced
divided by the total content milled (excluding slag).
7 Metals in concentrate include metal derived from slag processing and
have been calculated at industry standard downstream processing losses
to present produced saleable ounces.
8 Corresponds to contained base metals in concentrate.
9 Nickel is produced and sold as nickel sulphate crystals or solution and
the volumes shown correspond to contained metal. Copper is produced as
refined product but typically at LME grade C.
10 Concentrate and others sales essentially relates to BMR concentrate and
BMR/PMR residues.
11 Basket price of PGMs is based on the revenue generated from the actual
PGMs (5PGE + Au) sold in the period.
12 Lonmin refined metal production and sales include an estimated 3,000 oz
saleable ounces of Platinum produced from toll refining third party
concentrate (Q2 2009 - nil).
13 Exchange rates are calculated using the market average daily closing
rate over the course of the period.
Date: 10/05/2010 08:00:47 Produced by the JSE SENS Department.
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