Lonmin is the third largest primary producer of Platinum in the world, producing over 900,000 ounces of Platinum and a similar number of ounces of the other Platinum group metals such as Palladium and Rhodium. Its operations are located in the district of Marikana, near Rustenberg, in the North West Province of South Africa.

            Red = 25 day moving average.           Green = 200 day moving average.

SALES PER ACTIVITY (Data as of 30/09/2005)

Platinum extraction: 100%

Deutsche Bank today reaffirms its sell investment rating on Lonmin PLC (LON:LMI) and raised its price target to 106p (from 105p).

StockMarketWire.com
Lonmin - one of the world's largest primary platinum producers - has announced its production results for the third quarter ended 30 June.

Chief executive Ben Magara said it was "another good quarter in a challenging operating environment" with the company continuing to focus and execute on its committed strategy.

Third Quarter Highlights
- LTIFR improved by 4.5%. Sadly two colleagues were fatally injured. We declared and held a Tripartite Safety Day on 14 July, in conjunction with the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) and The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU)

- Mined Platinum ounces up 3.3% to 166,581, notwithstanding the rationalisation of the workforce by 19% (compared to people as at 30 June 2015)

- Concentrator recoveries continue to be industry leading at 87%

- Produced 2.6 million tonnes from underground mining, broadly flat on Q3 2015

- Generation 2 shafts production up 8.7% to 2 million tonnes, and productivity up 6%

- Unit costs reduced by 2.2% year-on-year to R10,596 per PGM ounce (6E basis), in spite of RSA CPI of 6.3% and increased safety stoppages

- Average Rand full basket price (including base metals) up 9.2% on Q3 2015, at R11,864 per PGM ounce

- Refined production of 173,512 and sales of 162,725 Platinum ounces on track to achieve full-year guidance

- Net cash of $91 million as at 30 June 2016, after working capital and capital expenditure investment of $51 million. Total Liquidity at 30 June 2016 was $451 million

I've got these from 101p - unfortunately only a small holding.

I haven't got any! Doh!! :o(

Lonmin Secures $50 million Funding For Tailings Project

Lonmin Plc is pleased to announce that it has secured competitive funding of $50 million for the Bulk Tailings Treatment project ("the BTT project" or "the project") through a specific project finance metal streaming arrangement. The first tranche of project funding of $9 million has now been received and work has already started on the project.

The BTT project involves the re-mining of Lonmin's Easterns Tailings Dam. The project entails the reprocessing of 26 million tonnes of Tailings material at a rate of 300,000 tonnes per month. Commissioning and ramp up to full production is expected during the 2018 Financial Year.

Once at steady-state, the project is expected to produce about 29,000 ounces of Platinum per year or some 55,000 ounces of PGM, at a yield of 0.5 grammes per tonne (5PGE+Au) (grade of 1.42 grammes per tonne at a recovery of 35%). The project is part of Lonmin's business plan and is expected to produce the lowest cost ounces in the Lonmin portfolio.

"The BTT project is part of our strategy to focus on low cost ounces to maximise our cash position and create value for all our stakeholders," said Lonmin's Chief Executive Ben Magara.

Peel Hunt today initiates coverage of Lonmin PLC (LON:LMI) with a sell investment rating and price target of 160p

StockMarketWire.com
Lonmin posts an underlying operating profit of $7m for the year to the end of September against a loss of $134m last time.

Revenues totalled $$1,118m against $1,293m and operating losses narrowed to $322m from $2018m.

Underlying loss before tax narrowed to $3m from $143m and pre-tax losses fell to $355m from $2262m.

Lonmin chief executive Ben Magara said: "During 2016 we strengthened our balance sheet and renewed our bank facilities, closed unprofitable shafts, reorganised the business without labour disruptions, reduced costs and enhanced profitability. We are now well placed to drive essential and sustained improvements in productivity. I am pleased that we ended the year with net cash of $173 million and increased total liquidity to $537 million. I am also pleased that we signed a multi-year wage agreement without labour or production disruption. We have now repositioned the business, not only to withstand the current low PGM price environment, but also to seize opportunities to maximise value for shareholders and all our stakeholders."

Lonmin also issued a fourth quarter production report.

It said: "The Marikana mining operations (including Pandora) produced 2.7 million tonnes during the quarter as planned, a decrease of 10.1% or 298,000 tonnes on the prior year period, reflecting the planned decrease in production from the Generation 1 shafts in line with our strategy to reduce high cost production in a low price environment.

"Production from our core Generation 2 shafts (K3, Rowland, Saffy and 4B/1B) was 2.1 million tonnes, broadly flat on the fourth quarter of 2015 production of 2.2 million tonnes and accounted for 80% of total tonnes mined, emphasizing our continued focus on these core shafts. Productivity at our Generation 2 shafts at 6.1 square metres per mining employee for the quarter improved by 1.6% on the fourth quarter of 2015. The improved productivity and reduced Section 54 stoppages were offset by the decrease in tonnes from K3 shaft."

StockMarketWire.com
Lonmin has maintained its sales guidance for 2017 but was disappointed by first quarter production at its Generation 2 shafts and is reviewing its capital expenditure.

The Marikana mining operations including Pandora produced 2.3 million tonnes during the quarter, down 7.8% or 0.2 million tonnes on a year ago partly due to the planned decline from the closing of its high cost shafts.

Tonnes mined from its Generation 2 shafts totalled 1.8 million tonnes, a decrease of 5.2%, or 0.1 million tonnes on the comparative period due to the under-performance of K3, its biggest shaft.

K3 produced 590,000 tonnes, a decrease of 13.8% on the prior period.

Lonmin said: "We have been disappointed by the quarter 1 production at our Generation 2 shafts.

"With the initiative of deploying additional stoping and vamping crews, as well as the expected platinum ounces from the smelter clean-up project, our sales guidance for the 2017 full year is maintained at between 650,000 and 680,000 Platinum ounces.

"At this stage we still expect unit costs to remain in the range of R10,800 to R11,300 per PGM ounce for the full year subject to seeing sustained improvement in production during the year.

"We will be reviewing our capital expenditure and will provide an update on guidance in due course."

Peel Hunt today reaffirms its sell investment rating on Lonmin PLC (LON:LMI) and cut its price target to 105p (from 155p).

Platinum miner Lonmin has come under attack over its record on conditions for its workers, nearly five years after dozens of people were killed in violence at its Marikana mine in South Africa.

Speaking as protesters displayed placards bearing the names of the dead, the chief executive, Ben Magara, told shareholders at the group’s annual meeting that progress on building homes for 33,000 staff had been “slower than we would have liked”.

But he said rock-bottom platinum prices made it impossible for the company to resolve the housing issue and stay financially sound.

Thirty-four people were killed near the Marikana mine in August 2012, after workers went on strike, demanding a living wage from Lonmin in a complex dispute that escalated into violence.

The former bishop of Pretoria Johannes Seoka, who was on the phone to one of the victims when the police opened fire, said the company should take more responsibility.

“We’re convinced that what happened is the result of their own reaction to demands of the workers,” he said. “If they had talked with the workers that massacre would not have happened.”

Seoka and Amnesty International called for the company to move faster on building homes for miners, many of whom live in informal communities with no electricity or running water.

Lonmin reached a deal with workers last year for the basic monthly pay of 4,000 rock drill operators to rise by 2018 to nearly 12,500 South African rand (£744), the amount they were demanding in the days leading up to the 2012 massacre.

But one shareholder said she believed miners’ wage demands were “unreasonable”, comparing the sum to her own pension and disability allowance.

“The bulk of my pension goes on utilities,” she said. “They [mine workers] say they don’t have electricity, gas or running water so I don’t understand what they want to spend it on.”

Lonmin said it had taken steps to help the families of the Marikana massacre victims, including offering them jobs, paying for their children’s education and agreeing to improve housing and wages.

Lonmin hammered by resignation of ‘one of its best people’

Lonmin shares fell more than 10% on Monday, when it told the market its chief operating officer, Ben Moolman, had resigned for "personal reasons". On the JSE, the share price closed 8.5% down at R16.14, its lowest level in 2017, marking it out as the weakest of SA’s platinum companies since the start of the year. Lonmin has dropped more than 31% so far in 2017 and 50% in the past 52 weeks.

Analysts said Moolman, a figure with the operational experience necessary to turn the embattled company’s mines back to profit, appeared to have had enough. "You can’t replace him with anyone else in the hope they can fix the operational problems. The real problem is the capital structure of the company — that and the labour and social issues," said Nedbank analyst Leon Esterhuizen.

The lack of capital, stemming in large part from a 2016 rights issue that was too small, meant there was not enough money to invest in the mines and, in particular, to bring the suspended and partially built K4 mine into production as the company’s lowest-cost mine, he said. He’s been made the fall guy for everything that’s gone wrong and will go wrong in coming months.

The London-and JSE-listed shares fell to a level that was not far off the equivalent 1p per share at which Lonmin conducted a heavily discounted rights issue in December 2015 to raise a total $407m. It subsequently consolidated its shares on a 100:1 basis to reduce its 28-billion shares in issue to a more manageable level.

Meeting Moolman during an analysts’ visit to Lonmin’s mines near Brits in North West earlier in 2017, analysts said he believed the operational setbacks could be overcome.

"He’s been made the fall guy for everything that’s gone wrong and will go wrong in coming months. Lonmin won’t make its production targets and the blame will be directed at Ben. Lonmin is losing one of its best people," said an analyst.

Lonmin’s biggest shaft, K3, had a poor first quarter, with output falling 14%. "Overall, the relationship between operational management and unions at this shaft is not working as effectively as we expected and the yielding of results from the implementation of business improvement initiatives at this shaft is taking longer than we would have liked to see," Lonmin said in January.

Citigroup note today:
"As we did in January 2012 and March 2015 (see Steering the Ship through Stormy Waters and Tiring Balance Sheets), we are again cautioning investors that there is a high likelihood that LON will have to approach shareholders for further capital in the next 6-12 months, especially if current PGM prices prevail.
We estimate that LON’s tangible net worth could fall below the $1.1bn level when it reports its FY17 results to September 2017. This level is significant since it would trigger LON’s debt covenants.
We think this could result in LON’s fourth rights issue in eight years.
We are unsure about investor appetite to support another rights issue, given the last one was less than two years ago.
This could call into question the future shape of LON’s business.
We revise our estimates, marking to market 1H17, which leads us to cut our TP 20% to GBP0.95 (ZAR15.42). We downgrade the stock to Sell/High Risk.
We argue that, as the industry’s highest-cost player and with limited strategic flexibility, LON remains structurally challenged and a speculative play on PGM prices."

Peel Hunt believes it is time to get rid of platinum producer Lonmin.

Analysts said the firm's plans to reopen one of its major mine shafts, which it announced last week, were 'heartening'.

But they have real concerns over cash flow, expecting it will have to raise money at some point over the next two years after using up existing funding.

They downgraded Lonmin to 'sell' from 'hold'.

Took a punt at below 83p

The early marked up to 85p+ did not last, but slowly is picking up again, maybe help by my buy.
Metal prices on the rise should see further interest on the stock as it bounces back from the recent drop.

not much stock around at this prices, so they ask for premium for any long settelment
2 week old chart

Lonmin betting on platinum and palladium continuing their rallies LMI by ValueTheMarkets • August 18, 2017

As the platinum price continues to gain ground and palladium hits a 16-year high, shares in Lonmin Plc (LSE:LMI) are starting to perk up.
Having taken a beating over the last 12 months, down from a high of 231p, Lonmin’s battered share price now trades at 82.5p on the mid.
However, there are signs it could be about to stage a comeback.

One of the greatest concerns about Lonmin (understandably) is the company’s debt. Having secured a bailout rescue package in
December 2015, the company managed to survive albeit at a heavy cost. Today Lonmin carries a $150million debt facility,
which includes a number of fairly stringent covenants. Of these perhaps the most noteworthy is the condition that Lonmin’s
tangible net worth (“TNW”) must not fall below $1.1billion. According to the company’s latest set of interim numbers its
TNW was $1.434billion, giving it $334million headroom.

For long-term investors this might be a little close for comfort, but Lonmin’s latest quarterly production report offers some
cause for hope. In this Lonmin announced, “Net Cash improved to $86 million (gross cash of $236 million less the drawn
term loan of $150 million) at 30 June, up from $75 million (gross cash of $225 million less the drawn term loan of $150 million).”
For a company, which the market fears is running out of cash, this is very good news. When you factor in continued price
strength in platinum and palladium (which account for 75% and 25% of Lonmin’s production mix respectively)
it is doubly positive.

A bit earlier in the summer Lonmin’s shares traded at a 52-week low of 61.5p. At this level the company was starting to look like
it was being priced to fail. The rally over the last month has made the situation look a lot better, but a price pullback in the last
fortnight has further called into question Lonmin’s ability to hold the gains.

Referring to the charts might offer some insight into which direction Lonmin’s shares will head next.



From a Technical Analysis point of view there is an obviously strong relationship between Lonmin and the price of platinum.
Platinum is currently charging ahead. Its price recovery bodes well for Lonmin, which should follow suit if this continues.

The platinum price hit its low of $812 at the beginning of 2016. This year it has bounced around the $900 level three times
and there are other encouraging signs of a sustained recovery now. On the daily chart platinum is above its 200 Day
Moving Average (DMA) and recently ‘checked back’ with a confident bounce. The 20 DMA has crossed upwards through
both the 50 and 200 DMAs. The price action is generally forming an upward trend. A break through long-term diagonal resistance
(shown in red on the chart below) could signify a strong move towards $1200+,



At the same time Lonmin’s share price appears to be in an upward channel mirroring platinum. It has just passed a strong
diagonal line of resistance again. Other promising signs are the recent Golden Cross by the 20 DMA and 50 DMA, and also
a month long support line beneath the Relative Strength Index. A good first target might be the 200DMA, which is on its way
to meet the top of the current price channel at around 110p. However, with Lonmin still pretty much priced to fail and
optimistic signs in the platinum price, the upward potential for the share price could be much, much greater.

Opening a tightly managed, disciplined position at or around 82p appears to offer a favourable risk/reward ratio.

A very good rise today after and early morning calm where I managed to get another lot at 83.25p.
Taking advantage of the large rise in Platinum of yesterday and again today

By 12.02pm the order book had signal a better price to come when the UT went to 85p

Looks like we are going to have a good finish, as the order book has just got strong

spread 87.25 v 87.50

DEPTH 56 v 33
-

StockMarketWire.com
Lonmin's results for the year to the end of September will be delayed while management concentrates on the operational review announced on 7 Aug.

Lonmin said the objective of the review was to achieve a properly funded viable business plan based on potential disposal proceeds, new debt capital and the continuing support of existing lenders which may include obtaining their consents and waivers of any future potential covenant breaches and disposals.

It said the review, and the potentially significant outcomes, continued to demand management's undivided attention and, as a result, the preparation of the audited full year financial results had been delayed.

The company was due to publish its results on 13 Nov.

In an update, the company said the operating environment remained tough, and it was planning on the basis that it would remain so for the foreseeable future.

It said platinum sales for 2018 were expected to be between 650,000 and 680,000 ounces.

It said unit costs remained under pressure and were expected to be in the range of R12,000 to R12,500 per PGM ounce.

Chief executive Ben Magara said: 'Our principal focus for 2017 was to remain at least cash neutral in line with our short term strategic objective to be able to deal successfully with the continued low PGM pricing environment.

'Given the slow start to the year, we are pleased with the way our mining operations have performed throughout the last three successive quarters to compensate for the poor performance in the first four months of the financial year up to 31 January 2017.

'We have succeeded in making meaningful progress in this tough operating environment, by improving our production performance reducing capital expenditure to the minimum required for the safe and efficient running of operations, and maintaining operational and strategic flexibility.

'Our processing teams continue to deliver exceptional performance.

'Lonmin's Operational Review continues with the primary objective of preserving value for shareholders and safeguarding the long-term interests of employees and all key stakeholders.

'We are pleased with the progress made so far and will report the results to shareholders in due course.'

Lonmin said the mining performance improvement had been sustained from March.

Tonnes mined by its Generation 2 shafts increased for the fourth quarter by 7.5% to 2.3 million tonnes compared with the fourth quarter of 2016, providing a 2.3% improvement for the year to 8.3 million tonnes for the year.

StockMarketWire.com
Mining firm Lonmin (LMI) announced improved revenue on higher platinum group metal prices for the year to 30 September 2017 but a significant pre-tax loss of $1.17bn after a change in its business plan led to a $1.05bn impairment.

In an update on its first quarter to 31 December 2017, reported net cash of $63m reflected a reduction in the historical first quarter cash burn rate and the company revealed a fatality-free operating period.

The company is in the process of merging with Sibanye-Stillwater. Lonmin chief executive Ben Magara says: 'We believe Lonmin has an enviable mine-to-market business with great mining assets, projects and process technology and a resilient workforce.

'Despite this, Lonmin continues to be hamstrung by its capital structure and liquidity constraints. The announced combination with Sibanye-Stillwater will provide a stronger platform for Lonmin's shareholders and allow them and our other stakeholders to benefit from the long-term upside potential of an enlarged and geographically diversified precious metals group.'