Anglo Platinum announces that the detailed technical examination referred to in its announcement on 8 September 2005 has been completed. The findings show that the failure of a single waffle cooler led to water ingress into the furnace.
The examination also revealed a concerning general level of corrosion across all the waffle coolers and it is considered necessary to replace the complete waffle cooler installation. In addition, following the corrosion disruption in September 2004, it was decided to modify the waffle cooler design by introducing a split cooler system. The modification will allow easier corrosion identification and cooler replacement in future. The modification was originally scheduled to be installed in early 2006 and has been brought forward as part of this repair. It is expected that the work will be complete by the end of November and normal smelting operations will resume in mid-December 2005.
Anglo Platinum is implementing contingency arrangements to minimise the effect of the smelter shutdown on metal flow and annual production and will utilise excess industry smelting capacity where possible.
Anglo Platinum’s forecast production volume for 2005 is likely to be affected and unit costs will be higher due to transport and possible toll treatment costs. The impact on production, on the assumption that excess industry capacity cannot be economically accessed, would be to reduce planned refined platinum production from 2,6 million to approximately 2,45 million ounces for 2005. Metal in concentrate not smelted and refined would be released in the first half of 2006. The impact of contingency arrangements on production and unit costs will be announced once finalised.
For further information, please contact
Trevor Raymond
(011) 373-6462
082 654 8467