Another major mining company takes a hit

Northam Platinum is the latest platinum group metal (PGM) miner to see a drop in profit amidst a troubled environment.

For the six months ended 31 December 2024, Northam saw its sales revenue drop by 3.1% to R14.5 billion, while its operating profit declined by 55.2% to R1 billion.

The group’s headline earnings per share declined by 49.7% to 61.1 cents per share, while basic earnings per share dropped by 54.9% to 61.5%.

With the group’s dividend policy of paying out 25% of headline earnings, the company declared an interim dividend of 15.0 cents. This was a massive 85% decline from the prior comparable period.

Northam is not the only PGM miner to feel the pain. Miners in the sector are experiencing extreme price pressures.

PGM prices are severely depressed due to a global economic slowdown and concerns related to the shift to electric vehicles, which don’t need PGMs to reduce emissions via a catalytic converter.

Yesterday, 27 February 2025, Impala Platinum said that its results were severely affected by the drop in PGM prices, which offset the group’s cost-cutting measures, including thousands of retrenchments.

Impala Platinum, also known as Implats, did not declare a dividend for the six months ended 31 December 2024 due to the uncertain macroeconomic environment and low PGM prices.

Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) also saw its headline earnings drop by 40% throughout the whole of 2024, while revenue fell by 13% to R19 billion on the back of the rand-basket per ounce price dropping.

Amplats struggles have seen its largest shareholder, Anglo American, leaving the South African-based miner to fend for itself, with a demerger planned for June.

A hefty dividend payout also leaves Amplats with only R1 billion in cash, which is in contrast with Implats, who are trying to keep every piece of cash possible.

Northam’s results for the period can be found below: