Anglo American Platinum announces the temporary shutdown of the entire Anglo Converter Plant (ACP), part of the chain of processing facilities, and the need to declare force majeure.

The Company’s ACP phase A converter plant, at Waterval smelter in Rustenburg, was damaged following an explosion within the converter on 10 February 2020. Nobody was injured in the incident and work has started to repair phase A, which is expected to be completed by Q2 2021.

As per normal business procedure, the phase B unit was commissioned to take over from the phase A plant and was in the process of ramping up to steady state, when water was detected in the furnace. Notwithstanding extensive testing being conducted to determine the source of the water, and a number of circuits being isolated, water continued to be observed in the furnace. This poses a high risk of explosion and the Company has determined that it has no other option but to temporarily shut down the phase B unit, to ensure the safety of all employees, and avoid a catastrophic event. It is anticipated that the repair works to fix the phase B unit will take approximately 80 days.

As a result of the temporary closure of the entire ACP, Anglo American Platinum has had to declare force majeure to customers, suppliers of third-party purchase of concentrate and suppliers of tolling material, as we are unable to complete the processing of material during the converter repair. Production from own mines will continue, and the concentrate from the mines will continue to be smelted at one of the four smelter complexes. However, production from own mines, as well as third party material will not be able to be converted to refined production while the ACP is undergoing repairs.

Initial estimates of the impact on AAP refined production are shown in the guidance below:

Anglo American Platinum will host an analyst and investor call with time for Q&A on Friday 6th March 2020 at 13:30 SA time and 11:30 UK time. Dial-in details are provided below, and a playback will be available on the website. Pre-registration is required at the following link:

Conference call preregistration: www.diamondpass.net/2843044

A replay of the call can be accessed at the following numbers:

Certain statements made in this announcement constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “believes”, “expects”, “may”, “will”, “could”, “should”, “intends”, “estimates”, “plans”, “assumes” or “anticipates” or the negative thereof, or other variations thereon, or comparable terminology, or by discussions of, for example, future production, present or future events, or strategy that involves risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the Company’s control and all of which are based on the Company’s current beliefs and expectations about future events. Such statements are based on current expectations and, by their nature, are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual production and performance to differ materially from any expected future production or performance, expressed or implied, by the forward-looking statement. The forward-looking statements contained in this report speak only as of the date of this report and the Company undertakes no duty to update any of them and will not necessarily do so, in light of new information or future events, except to the extent required by applicable law or regulation.