South African platinum miners’ profits plummet amid price collapse

Two South African platinum producers reported tumbling earnings following a collapse in prices for the metals they mine.

Impala Platinum said fiscal second-half profit likely fell by more than 85% as prices dropped and the company wrote down the value of assets in South Africa and Canada.

Anglo American Platinum said its 2023 profit sank by as much as 79%.

Since the start of last year, prices for the three key platinum-group metals, or PGMs, have declined sharply. Platinum, palladium and rhodium have lost 18%, 51% and 64%, respectively.

Anglo American, Amplats’ majority owner, said in December that PGM miners’ returns are at the lowest level in 30 years.

Shares in the four companies that mine most PGM metals in South Africa, the world’s largest producing country, all fell in Johannesburg trading.

Amplats dropped 6.8%, Implats slid 1.9%, Northam Platinum declined 5.2%, and Sibanye Stillwater was down 4.6% as of 10:43 a.m. local time Thursday.