JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The 2022 earnings results that Anglo American Platinum (Amplats) will release later this month will be well down.

Basic earnings and earnings a share for the period are likely to decrease by between 33% and 52% compared with the prior 2021 period.

Basic earnings are likely to be between R38-billion and R53-billion (R79-billion in 2021), with earnings a share at between 14 431c and 20 128c a share (30 023c in 2021).

This has been driven primarily by a 26% decrease in platinum group metal (PGM) sales volumes, the JSE-listed PGMs mining company said on Monday.

Putting the decrease into context is the strong performance from the ACP Phase A unit in 2021 following its rebuild and recommissioning in November 2020 and consequent increase in work-in-progress in 2020.

As a result, there was additional drawdown of a million PGM ounces from work-in-progress inventory in the prior period.

In addition, the second half of 2022 was impacted by the planned structural rebuild of the Polokwane smelter, a process that was extended by two months following the receipt of sub-standard materials.

These sub-standard materials were identified by Amplat’s quality assurance processes and resulted in a build-up in work-in-progress inventory.

Inflationary pressures led to higher mining and processing costs in the period and these were partially offset by the less concentrate being received, JSE-listed Amplats stated in a media release to Mining Weekly.

A change in economic and operating assumptions year-on-year resulted in net deferred consideration remeasurements from the disposal of Rustenburg and Union mines and the acquisition of Mototolo being negative compared with the large increase in 2021.

Taxation and royalties decreased in line with lower profits.

Amplats is scheduled to release its 2022 results on Monday, 20 February.