Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) CEO Craig Miller said the group would like to expand its Unki operation in Zimbabwe, but to do so it would need to see more stability in the country.
“Unki is a fantastic asset. If we could copy and paste Unki several times, we would,” he said, echoing the words of his predecessor, Natascha Viljoen, who said in 2020 that the group wished it could “bottle” Unki’s operational efficiency and distribute it across the company.
When asked at a platinum group metals (PGM) conference on Thursday why Amplats had not invested more into the Unki mine, Miller said his hesitation reflected Zimbabwe’s unstable environment, which did not align with the group’s disciplined capital allocation strategy.
“Operating in Zimbabwe is complex — operating in SA is easier than it is in Zimbabwe from a fiscal perspective,” he said.
“Unki is a fantastic asset, we just need to see some changes in the fiscal environment in Zimbabwe to give us more confidence.”
In the year to end-December, Unki reported a 2% decrease in production to 240,000oz due to “temporary poor ground conditions experienced from mining in planned lower-grade sections,” while above-inflation input cost increases, particularly in electricity and explosives, drove a 5% increase in cash operating costs.
The mine’s adjusted earnings before interest, depreciation, taxation and amortisation (ebitda) peaked in 2021 at R6.2bn and have since steadily declined, recorded at R4.28bn in 2022, R2.14bn in 2023 and R1.46bn last year.
Despite being lauded for its operational efficiency, Unki was not completely shielded from the sweeping job cuts and restructurings implemented last year in response to stubbornly low PGM prices and high input costs.
According to the group’s latest annual results, Unki’s workforce shed 76 workers to 1,724 in 2023-24, while the number of employees at the Mototolo and Amandelbult mines in SA dropped by 148 to 2,294 and by 823 employees to 12,424, respectively.
Speaking from the same panel, Impala Platinum (Implats) CEO Nico Muller was unfazed by Zimbabwe’s fiscal instability and said that the group has a “very good history interacting with policymakers in Zimbabwe”.
Implats owns an 87% stake in Zimplats, which operates five underground mines and a concentrator in Zimbabwe, and the Mimosa 50/50 joint venture with Sibanye-Stillwater.
The group reported a capital expenditure bill of R8.23bn in 2024, R5.51bn in 2023 and R4.12bn in 2022 for Zimplats. Overall, it has invested a combined R22.89bn in the two Zimbabwean operations over the past three years.
“While there are fiscal and policy challenges in Zimbabwe, operationally it is the simplest, most predictable, safest and most efficient low-cost operations that we own. Its efficiency and cost position gives us a very positive orientation towards future investment,” said Muller.
“That’s why a large proportion of our capital investment over the past five years has been directed towards Zimbabwe — we see a very positive future.”
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