JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) expects its half-year profit to fall by at least 20 percent due to weaker metal prices, the South African miner said on Tuesday.
Platinum prices have been hurt by growth concerns in China and oversupply worries which have forced firms to abandon projects and sell mines.
Amplats, which produces around 40 percent of the world’s platinum group metals, said it would make a further announcement once it had determined a likely range for its headline earnings per share.
Headline EPS, which strips out certain one-off items, is the main profit measure in South Africa.
Shares in Amplats were little changed at 379.09 rand, largely in line with the blue-chip JSE Top-40 index.
Amplats, a unit of global mining group Anglo American, is focusing on newer and more mechanised mines and removing unprofitable ounces following a record five-month strike in 2014.
Amplats, along with rivals Impala Platinum and Lonmin, is due to start wage talks with unions at the end of June, when the current deal expires.
The National Union of Mineworkers will demand pay increases of 20 percent per year for the next two years while demands from the larger Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union are not yet known.
(Reporting by Tiisetso Motsoeneng; editing by Jason Neely)