Sibanye to spend R95m on former Aquarius mines

Harare - Sibanye Gold [JSE:SGL] anticipates spending R95m for the year to end-December 2016 on its newly-acquired platinum business, formerly Aquarius Platinum, according to CEO Neal Froneman.

Giving forecasts for Sibanye's year to end-December 2016 on Monday, Froneman said attributable platinum production for the June 2016 quarter is forecast at 87 500 ounces of 4E platinum group metal (platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold) ounces, at an average cash cost of R10 300/oz.

Aquarius recorded a solid operational result for the March 2016 quarter, delivering record quarterly production from Kroondal and Zimbabwe-based Mimosa.

Attributable 4E PGM production increased by 7% year-on-year (y/y) to 90.8 thousand ounces, with Kroondal, Mimosa and Platinum Mile delivering year-on-year growth of 7%, 6% and 26% respectively.

"The March 2016 quarter production result is notable given the seasonal disruptions that generally occur during the first quarter of a calendar year," said the company.

Results for Aquarius Platinum, which was acquired on April 12 2016, will only be consolidated with the group results from April 2016.