Business

New era starts with a whimper for major South African miner

Luke Fraser

 ·28 Jul 2025

Newly independent Valterra Platinum has seen its earnings fall 91% for the first half of 2025. 

Valterra Platinum was previously known as Anglo American Platinum and was spun out of its parent company earlier this year. 

This spin-off is part a major restructuring at Anglo American as part of its plan to stop a takeover from rival BHP. 

Anglo American’s restructuring saw the group unbundle key assets, of which the platinum business is one, to free up capital and management time. 

There are question marks over the future of platinum. The metal, which South Africa produces most globally, is mainly used for catalytic converters in cars. 

Despite helping reduce emissions in cars, markets are pushing towards electric vehicles—which do not produce emissions—limiting the need for this resource. 

Looking at its performance for the six months ended 30 June 2025, the company saw its headline basic earnings drop from R6.3 billion to R600 million. 

The group’s interim dividend per share was also severely cut from R9.75 to R2.00 per share. 

The group said it was negatively affected by flooding at the Amandelbult mine, which was the main culprit for a 12% cut in output. 

The company also incurred costs from its spinoff from Anglo American. After the demerger, Anglo American retained a 19.9% shareholding but plans to exit fully over time.

Still optimistic 

Despite the weak results, Valterra Platinum CEO Craig Miller said the group should benefit from several operational tailwinds in the year’s second half.

This includes a production recovery at Amandelbult and higher ore head grades at its Mogalakwena mine due to the mining sequence.

Processing infrastructure availability should also be improved following the completion of the scheduled maintenance. 

“We remain on track to deliver metal-in-concentrate production within guidance after factoring in the Amandelbult flooding impact, albeit at the lower end,” said Miller. 

That said, the group’s capital expenditure guidance has been reduced to R17.0 billion – R17.5 billion, which is ~R1.0 billion lower than the previous 2025 guidance. 

“Our strong production profile in the second half should allow us to realise the benefit of higher volumes sold into buoyant markets,” said Miller. 

“Our focus on sustaining capital investment, prudent cost control and operational consistency from our leading integrated value chain allows us to capture the upside from a continued recovery of PGM prices.” 

Platinum prices have increased by 55% since the start of the year amid strong industrial demand.