Aquarius suspends Marikana

South Africa's Aquarius Platinum Ltd said it would suspend mining at the final operating shaft of its Marikana operations, co-owned with Anglo American plc, citing weak conditions in global platinum markets.

"This decision has been made in the interests of preserving the[Anglo-Aquarius sharing agreement] ore reserves until an improved economic climate merits their extraction in the future," said the company, noting an ongoing slump in basket prices for platinum group metals (PGM).

The news comes after the companies suspended two other shafts at Marikanain May, when they said workforce absenteeism and safety-related stoppages had also affected production. Marikana produced 52,962oz of PGM for Aquarius lastyear, representing 42% of the company's production.

Analysts at JP Morgan have expressed concern about present market conditions, saying "A materially weaker rand has aided the crucial rand PGMbasket price - but nowhere near enough to be of significance to the beleaguered platinum mining industry, in our view. In our assessment, the business environment for the platinum miners remains as difficult as we can recall in over three decades."

"We fear a sustained recovery may take longer than current equity valuations suggest," they added.