I think this one is oversold, and is must BUY @ at level!

SECOND QUARTER 2011: PRODUCTION RESULTS
Highlights

- Attributable production increased by 3% quarter-on-quarter and by 14%
compared to Q2 2010, to 127,579 PGM ounces

- Average PGM Dollar prices improved through quarter - platinum up 9%,
palladium up 37% and rhodium up 2%

- The Rand strengthened against the Dollar by 6% on average and by 5% over
the quarter

- Weighted average cost per PGM ounce improved by 13% in local currency
terms compared to prior quarter

Broken through the 4 mark again.....can it continue?

StockMarketWire.com
Aquarius Platinum has confirmed its Zimbabwean operating subsidiary, Mimosa Mining Co, is holding talks with authorities on establishing a position that will be compliant with the country's Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act.

Panmure Gordon's take on the political situation in South Africa:
"Nationalisation will be a key political issue for 2012. We believe that the results of this
survey support our view that investors should not be complacent about the threat of nationalisation in South Africa. Julius Malema is clearly not alone in his views on this issue, and we strongly believe that nationalisation will be a key political battleground in the 2012 ANC leadership race.
Politicians cannot afford to alienate 45% of black voters. Our view is that even politicians who are against nationalisation may find themselves seeking a compromise position which will not alienate the 45% of the black voter base which supports nationalisation that may not be an immediate 51% state stake in mining companies but it may well be a majority state ownership in new mining new projects and a gradual move towards state participation in existing companies.

Most impacted: Lonmin, Aquarius Platinum, and Anglo American. In the FTSE 100, Lonmin is most at risk (with 100% of assets in South Africa) followed by Aquarius Platinum (with all assets in South Africa except for its share of the Mimosa mine in Zimbabwe) and Anglo American (42% of our DCF valuation in South Africa).

Acquisition of mineral rights

Aquarius Platinum Limited is pleased to announce the acquisition of platinum group metal ("PGM") mineral rights by way of the purchase of Afarak Platinum (Proprietary) Limited ("Afarak"), a private company incorporated in South Africa, following the fulfilment of all conditions including the granting of Competition Commission approval last week. Following the Transaction, Aquarius will hold both directly and indirectly 74% of the outstanding share capital of Afarak, with the remaining 26% held by Watervale (Proprietary) Limited, an empowerment company controlled by Savannah Resources (Proprietary) Limited, Aquarius' major shareholder and Black Economic Empowerment partner of many years. The Company has an indirect 47% interest in Watervale.

StockMarketWire.com
Aquarius Platinum's wholly-owned subsidiary Ridge Mining (Proprietary) has suspended the funding of the jointly-owned Blue Ridge Platinum mine.

This follows a review of its economic viability in the current low platinum group metals rand price environment, pending a decision by the board of Blue Ridge to place the mine on care and maintenance.

Aquarius Platinum's wholly-owned subsidiary Aquarius Platinum (South Africa) (Proprietary) has completed an initial assessment of the costs and benefits of the expansion potential at the Everest Mine following the recently announced acquisition of Booysendal South.

AQPSA has agreed to purchase a 41.7% interest in Platinum Mile Resources (Proprietary) from a combination of Mvelaphanda Holdings and PlatMile management for R115.5m, bringing the Aquarius group's holding in Platmile to 91.7%.

CEO Stuart Murray said: "It is pleasing to note that the significant benefits of the Booysendal South acquisition are becoming increasingly apparent, with preliminary indications that Everest can be extended and expanded with industry-leading capital efficiency.

"As a result the board has resolved to accelerate the feasibility studies and development in respect of the Booysendal project.

"The decision by Ridge to suspend the funding of Blue Ridge was not an easy one to take, but it was based on the firm belief that it is in the interests of all stakeholders in the mine that it be placed on care and maintenance with immediate effect.

"The findings of Blue Ridge management during the redevelopment project coupled with the current economic realities of the platinum industry in South Africa strongly suggest that the mine would be loss-making from some time to come. Under the circumstances, any other course of action would be financially irresponsible for the wider group."

StockMarketWire.com
Aquarius Platinum's attributable production for the fourth quarter increased by 3% year-on-year to 114,260 PGM ounces.

But average PGM dollar prices deteriorated in the quarter with platinum flat, palladium down 4% and rhodium down 11%.

CEO Stuart Murray said: "The final quarter of the financial year has been exceptionally busy for Aquarius.

"On the corporate activity front, we successfully negotiated and signed three significant transactions during the period, two of which have the effect of increasing the Aquarius resource base by approximately 50%, and which we expect to help extend the mine lives of all of Aquarius' South African operations.

"The company is now uniquely well placed to benefit from growth into an improving medium term PGM price environment."

UBS has said that Aquarius Platinums fourth quarter was a disappointing one in production terms, and cuts its target price from 320p to 300p.

Attributable platinum group metals (PGM) production fell by 7% quarter-on-quarter to 114koz, 11% below consensus and under UBSs target of 140koz.

The broker keeps it neutral rating on the miner, saying that with the exception of the Mimosa project in Zimbabwe, operations disappointed across the board.

StockMarketWire.com
Aquarius Platinum said this morning that revenue increased by 45% to $682.9m in the year to end-June (2010: $472.2m) and headline earnings (before exceptional charges) increased more than fivefold to $142.8m (2010: $23.6m).

Mine operating net cash flow increased by 44% to $162.3m (2010: $112.8m) and mine EBITDA increased by 40% to $203.2m (2010: $145.1m).

Headline EPS was 30.85 US cents per share.

There was an asset impairment of the Blue Ridge mine (non-cash) of $159.8m following cessation of operations.

The company reported net loss was $10.4m as a result of the Blue Ridge impairment.

Group cash balance at FY close was $328.1m.

A final dividend of US 4 cents per share was declared, taking full year dividend to US 8 cents per share (FY2010: US 6 cents)

Group attributable production increased by 15% to 487,404 PGM ounces for the full year.

US Dollar PGM prices increased materially, but this benefit more than offset in South Africa by a strengthening Rand-US Dollar exchange rate.

Weighted average on-mine unit cash costs in South Africa increased by 12% in Rand terms.

StockMarketWire.com
Workers at Murray & Roberts Cementation - a contractor at Aquarius Platinum's Everest mine in South Africa - have gone on strike.

The strike has been called by the Association of Mining and Construction Unions, which is demanding full organisational rights from MRC under the South African Labour Relations Act.

Aquarius says this is a technical dispute between the union and MRC, and no demands are being made of Aquarius or its subsidiaries.

MRC is a contractor to Aquarius Platinum (South Africa) (Proprietary) Ltd.

StockMarketWire.com
Aquarius Platinum Limited (LON:AQP) today announces that as part of the continuing negotiations between its indirect 50% subsidiary Mimosa Holdings and the Government of Zimbabwe relating to its compliance with the Zimbabwean Indigenisation Act, Mimosa today signed a Deed of Trust incorporating the Zvishavane Community Share Ownership Trust.

The beneficiaries of the Trust include the communities surrounding the Mimosa mine and the Deed of Trust is expected to form an integral part of the overall Indigenisation Plan being developed between Mimosa and the Government of Zimbabwe.

The Deed of Trust coming into effect and the issuing of equity in Mimosa to the Trust is an indivisible part of a final Indigenisation Plan on which Mimosa and the Government of Zimbabwe remain in discussions. The final terms of the Indigenisation Plan will be announced as soon as this process is concluded.

"final Indigenisation Plan " - sounds ominous :-)

Only if you are of caucasin origin methinks!

Revenues down 25% - bad news

Aquarius Platinum in the red as output falls


Aquarius Platinum plunged into the red in the six months to the end of December with net losses of $113.5m against a net profit of $94.3m last time.

The result includes a foreign exchange loss of $91m arising substantially from the revaluation of intercompany loans within the group.

Revenue fell by 25% to $252m and mine earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation decreased by 69% to $29m.

This was due to challenging operating conditions experienced at the Group's South African operations, increased mining costs and lower PGM metal prices.

Group attributable production fell by 14% to 215,453 PGM ounces (H1 2011: 250,972) but the average US dollar PGM Basket Price was stable compared to the previous corresponding period despite US dollar PGM prices weakening over the half year due to deteriorating macroeconomic conditions.

Time to sell. Very bad report from profit to losses.

Aquarius Platinum's Chief Executive has admitted he 'could not have been more wrong' about the worst being behind the company as it plunged into the red, hit by the ongoing difficult operating and trading conditions facing the company and the southern African platinum industry.

A profit before tax of $130m in the second half of 2010 turned to a loss of $135.7m in the same period in 2011, while revenue was $252.4m, down from $336.2m the previous year.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Stuart Murray maintained that the results should "come as no surprise to shareholders" even though he has previously stated that the firm was through the worst.

"I could not have been more wrong," said Murray, who presumably has not heard of Murphy's Law, which states that anything which can go wrong will go wrong.

"Until we reach a turning point, we remain committed to the constant re-evaluation and optimisation of all aspects of our business and operations in the current low margin environment with a focus on cash preservation," Murray added.

He continued: "From an operational perspective the period under review has been a most challenging one, but it must also be remembered that the reported net loss and resulting negative earnings per share (EPS) figure are rather exaggerated by a substantial non-cash foreign exchange loss generated by the revaluation of inter-company loans as a result of volatile exchange rate conditions."

EPS fell from 20.43p to -24.31p year-on-year, while cash at the end of the period was $230m (2010: 368.5m). The Rand weakened by 7% on average against the dollar.

Outlook uncertain for H2 Aquarius


The junior miner faced production challenges over the six months ending in December due to section 54 safety stoppages, rising production costs, lower platinum group metals (PGM) prices and delays from its contractors.

"The majority of the knock came from safety stoppages with most of these coming from Kroondal and Marikana," Aquarius Chief Executive Officer Stuart Murray said.

The group's production decreased by 14% to 215,453 PGM ounces for the six months ending in December.

EBIDTA dropped by 64.1% to US$29 million over the period.

Aquarius did not declare an interim dividend as a result of its cash conservation plans.

Kroondal, which accounted for 41% of Aquarius' PGM output, produced below its capacity over the interim period due to delays in production as the mine installed new hanging wall support.

Murray added that although operations at Mimosa in Zimbabwe, contributed 21% towards total PGMs produced over the period, and they showed significant growth, political and legislative changes posed a challenge.

Decreasing metal prices caused a negative $25 million sales adjustment to be incurred.

Aquarius had to also grapple with fluctuations in the basket prices for PGMs, whose prices dropped from R11,000 an ounce to R9,700 oz in December.

"For ourselves over the next six months and year, we are busy getting to the end of the implementation of the new wall hanging support standards, and we do believe that we are seeing less fall of ground incidents in mines as a result, since that remains a major issue in South African mining, we believe it is the right thing to do." Murray said.

Aquarius Platinum will go to 100p...



Aquarius Platinum Ltd. (AQP.LN) said Friday that Zimbabwe's indigenization minister rejected its plan this week to meet the country's law requiring foreign miners to sell 51% of assets to government designated entities.

Rhetoric around the law, legislated in 2008 but now being implemented, is on the rise as President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party seeks to drive elections this year and stir up popular support.

Aquarius said it received a letter dated Feb. 22 from the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenization and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, to inform the company that its proposal was rejected and that it had 30 days to fully comply with the law otherwise "enforcement mechanisms will be activated."

Aquarius wasn't immediately available to comment further.

"Aquarius is concerned to note the statement by the Minister and advises shareholders that negotiations with the Minister will be undertaken in an attempt to reach a mutually acceptable solution," the platinum miner said.

Earlier this week, the minister told media in Zimbabwe that it wanted Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (IMP.JO), which is mining and developing platinum mines in the country, to dispose of its shareholding in Mimosa, which it jointly runs with Aquarius.

"In light that [ZANU-PF] want to hold elections this year, no doubt we will see rhetoric," Impala chief executive David Brown said last week, adding the election push will "cloud" the indigenization talks.

StockMarketWire.com
Aquarius Platinum is to hold talks with the Zimbabwe government over the indigenisation implementation plan for the company's subsidiary, Mimosa.

Aquarius says Mimosa has been advised by the Zimbabwean minister of youth development, indigenisation and empowerment that a portion of its IIP has been rejected.

Aquarius is concerned to note the statement by the minister that unless an agreement is reached with the National Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Fund to transfer the required shareholding to NIEEF within 30 days, 'enforcement mechanisms will be activated'.

Aquarius says negotiations with the minister will be undertaken in an attempt to reach a mutually acceptable solution.