COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Impala Platinum to plough US$80m in Zim

Impala Platinum's Zimbabwe unit Zimplats is going to plough more than US$80 million into its Bimha mine just after completing a nearly US$100 million reconstruction project there following a major collapse eight years ago.

The Bimha mine, which accounted for about half of Zimplats’ production, collapsed in July 2014, forcing the company to close and reconstruct it. The mine is one of the largest in the country. It had to additionally invest in replacement production projects.

The reconstruction program for the mine has now been completed and Zimplats has embarked on a project to upgrade the Bimha mine at an additional cost of US$81.7 million, chief executive officer, Alex Mhembere said this week.

"The redevelopment of Bimha Mine was completed within budget at US$99.8 million. The upgrading of Bimha Mine is progressing well, targeting achievement of 3.1 million tonnes per annum in the first quarter of FY2024," he said.

Zimplats is also upgrading the Mupani mine, which is targeted to produce 2.2 million tonnes per annum on completion in 2025, ramping up to 3.6 million tonnes per annum in 2027.-Fin24/Bloomberg

Anglo American looks to desalination

With no letup in Chile’s years-long drought, Anglo American Plc is looking at developing a desalination project in partnership with state-owned Codelco, Japan’s Mitsui & Co. and a local water utility.

The proposal is to build a plant on the coast of the Valparaiso region that would produce drinking water for residents in exchange for access to wastewater that could be used at mines, said Anglo’s Chile manager Aaron Puna.

"All roads lead to desalination," Puna said in an interview Monday from London. "We would expect to have something firm on that in the next 12 months."

Such a project offers a longer-term solution to Anglo’s Los Bronces mine that neighbours Codelco’s Andina in the mountains above Santiago. Giant copper mines in the desert to the north have turned to seawater amid depleting freshwater reserves that have triggered an overhaul of the country’s water-rights system and greater protections for glaciers.

At a cost of US$500 million to US$1 billion, the desalination project probably wouldn’t be ready for another four or five years. For now, Los Bronces is shifting away from freshwater by recycling from tailings dams and using local industrial water. Fin24/Bloomberg

Brimstone declares dividend

Investment company Brimstone reduced debt and related costs and showed a profit for the financial year ended 31 December 2021 thanks to a solid performance from subsidiaries and associates like Sea Harvest and Oceana, says CEO Mustaq Brey.

It reported a group profit before tax of R920.9 million for the year on Tuesday, a significant improvement from a loss of R43.8 million in the prior financial year. Group earnings per share were up 500% to 292.3 cents and group headline earnings per share jumped 586% to 298.9 cents.

A dividend of 30 cents per share was declared, compared to no dividend the previous year.

Total debt reduced by R1.2 billion in 2021 - a cumulative reduction in debt of approximately R2 billion since the start of lockdown in 2020.

JSE-listed Sea Harvest Group reported profit after tax of R434 million, up from R398 million in the prior year, and Brimstone will receive a dividend of R89.3 million from Sea Harvest next month. -Fin24/Bloomberg

Comair returns to Lufthansa Technik

Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International (LTMI) may once again perform maintenance for Comair, after the SA Civil Aviation Authority lifted the suspension of its licence.

The aviation watchdog last week suspended LTMI's Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) licence. Comair, which had recently had its flights suspended after what the authority termed "a series of incidents", temporarily shifted maintenance of its aircraft from LTIMI to SAA Technical.

Comair operates its own low-cost airline kulula.com as well as British Airways flights domestically.

According to Lufthansa Technik's spokesperson Michael Lagemann, its subsidiary LTMI was informed by SACAA on Sunday that the final proposals submitted for two outstanding findings were accepted and that the suspension was lifted.

"In subsequent discussions with Comair, it was agreed that the suspended LTMI services would resume during the course of Monday evening. This has been done and LTMI is again providing Comair with line maintenance services," Lagemann said on Tuesday. Fin24/Bloomberg

Nampak revenue up more than 20%

In a trading update for the five months to end-February, Nampak said strong volume growth for beverage cans helped to grow its revenue by more than 20%. Demand for certain of Bevcan South Africa's products exceeded its available capacity.

"Higher selling prices, resulting from significant increases in aluminium prices, was a key contributor to revenue growth as these price increases had to be passed onto customers using contractual pass-through pricing mechanisms," Nampak said.

Bevcan Nigeria also performed very well and was a major contributor to improved group results for the period.

Growth in the plastics division was driven by the strong performance of the group's Zimbabwean operations, supported by a solid performance from the liquid cartons business in South Africa. Plastics South Africa's performance was "reasonable" but lower volumes, due to a long strike at a key customer, impacted profitability negatively.

The company said that there is increased pressure on cash flows to fund working capital. -Fin24/Bloomberg