Angloplat's Polokwane smelter reopens

South Africa's Anglo Platinum Ltd (Angloplat), the world's biggest platinum producer, said on Friday that it had re-started its Polokwane smelter shut down last November for repairs after an accident.

Angloplat, which is majority-owned by global miner Anglo American plc, said operations at the smelter resumed on January 19, and that the facility was operating at 55% of its normal capacity.

"The smelter is running, it's been on since last week on Monday," Simon Tebele, a spokesman for Angloplat, told Reuters. "It is not at full capacity yet, its now at around 55 percent of its normal capacity."

Tebele could not immediately confirm how much refined platinum output was lost during the closure.

Angloplat shut the smelter after an incident in which the furnace run-out at the smelter came into contact with rain water, resulting in a significant release of steam and smoke. At the time it was shut, Angloplat said it estimated a loss of up to 200,000oz of refined platinum in 2008 and that the repairs were likely to take some six weeks to complete.

On its website, Angloplat said the Polokwane smelter has a full capacity of 650,000t/y. Tebele said the facility had resumed later than scheduled, due to repeated tests to ensure it was safe to re-start it.

The smelter's closure on November 5 helped boost platinum's price on the day, but the price has tumbled 60% from a record high of US$2,290 an ounce last March as car sales fall due to deepening recessions in many countries.

At the time it shut the smelter, Angloplat said its smelting and refining capacity was fully utilized, and that losses from the shut down would not be recovered during 2008. Concentrate accumulated during the shutdown would be released as refined metal in the first half of 2009, it said.

In July, Angloplat, which accounts for about 40% of the global platinum supply, forecast 2008 output at 2.4Moz of refined platinum versus 2.47 million in 2007. Last month, Angloplat cut capital expenditure owing to a decline in demand and prices for the metal, and forecast output to remain unchanged at 2.4Moz in 2009.

(Reuters, Jan 30)