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Johannesburg - Impala Platinum's Zimbabwe unit Zimplats Holdings reported a first-quarter operating profit of $1.1m on Thursday, and said it had secured a $35m loan to fund its expansion.
Zimplats, majority-owned by South Africa's Implats, the world's second biggest platinum producer, said the first-quarter profit, up from a loss of $11.6m in the previous quarter, was boosted by higher metal prices and lower operating costs.
Revenue in the quarter rose 36% percent to $35.1m compared with the fourth quarter of 2008, despite a 20% drop in volumes sold.
Zimplats said it had secured a R300m loan to finance the completion of the first phase of its Ngezi mine project from an undisclosed South African bank.
Zimbabwe's miners, along with the country as a whole, have faced a severe economic crisis and the highest inflation rate in the world, officially above 231 million percent last July, and foreign currency shortages, which have forced most mines to cease operations.
Zimplats said that due to a delay in equipment delivery, the commissioning of the new concentrator for the first phase of the Ngezi expansion will be delayed by one month to the end of May.
The company said in the past that the mine is expected to achieve design production capacity by June. It is expected to raise output by 80%, Zimplats said.
- Reuters