Johannesburg - Top global platinum producer South Africa lost at least 750 000 ounces of output last year to strikes, shaft closures and government-ordered safety stoppages, metals refiner Johnson Matthey said in a report on Monday.
The estimate is higher than other forecasts and highlights the gravity of a wave of illegal strikes, rooted in a union turf war, that hit the sector last year and triggered violence which killed over 50 people.
A government safety drive that saw several mine stoppages early in the year also curtailed output.
Thomson Reuters GFMS said 620,000 ounces of platinum production was lost last year to global production, mostly because of South Africa.
Johnson Matthey said the sharp fall in South African production was the main reason why global platinum shipments declined by 13 percent in 2012 to 5.64 million ounces.
It said platinum sales by South African producers had fallen 16 percent to a 12-year low of 4.1 million ounces.
This trend hit profits and helped push the world's biggest producer of the precious metal, Anglo American Platinum, into its first loss.
“Shipments of platinum by Anglo American Platinum fell by 17 percent to 2.17 million ounces in 2012,” the refiner said, noting this reflected output losses stemming from wildcat strikes late last year.
Johnson Matthey also said that losses near its Rustenburg operations, where much of the labour unrest was centred, were not as severe as expected.
“Perhaps surprisingly, production at the company's Rustenburg area operations was comparatively lightly affected, with total output dropping only 8 percent,” it said.
“This was principally because of a strong first half performance and the production ramp-up at the recently reopened Khuseleka 2 shaft.”
Anglo said on May 10 it would cut 6,000 South African mining jobs, fewer than half the 14,000 initially proposed, as it strives to restore profits without triggering a backlash from the government and unions.
The refiner said platinum supplies from Zimbabwe were unchanged in 2012 at 340,000 ounces. - Reuters