BARPLATS INVESTMENTS LIMITED -
River mine
BARPLATS INVESTMENTS LIMITED
(Incorporated in the Republic of South Africa)
(Registration No: 1987/004830/06)
ISIN: ZAE 000028692
Share code: BPL
("Barplats")
Suspension of mining operations at Crocodile River mine
Barplats today, 24 November 2003 advised that current mining operations will be
suspended at the Crocodile River mine, which will be placed on a care-and-
maintenance plan. At the same time trial mining will continue at Zandfontein and
supplementary ore sources will be pursued in order to maintain production
through the mine"s processing operations.
This announcement follows the notice given in the Barplats annual report issued
in August 2003 that the mine has continued to incur substantial losses and that
the various options to bring the mine back to profitability had previously
proved to be unsuccessful. This situation has been exacerbated by the continued
strengthening of the Rand against the US Dollar, which has had a significant
impact on the profitability and viability of the business.
The Crocodile River mine is a wholly owned operation of Barplats.
The primary contractors operating at the mine are BTX (mining contractor) and
Grinaker LTA (concentrator operator), who employ some 450 and 128 people
respectively. Discussions are being held with the contractors on the likely
redeployment of as many people as possible so as to minimize the impact on
employees.
Barplats has been reliant on a R200 million loan facility from Impala Platinum
Holdings Limited ("Implats") to fund operations, of which R140 million has been
used to date. It is estimated that the nett cost of care-and-maintenance will
amount to some R0.5 million per month and that the Implats loan will be extended
to cover this for the foreseeable future.
Shareholders will be advised of developments in due course.
Johannesburg
24 November 2003
Sponsor
Deutsche Securities
Member of the Deutsche Bank Group
Deutsche Securities (SA) (Proprietary) Limited
(Registration number 1995/011798/07)
Date: 24/11/2003 08:00:06 AM Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za
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