Reuters
Wesizwe Platinum (WEZJ.J) will lay off nearly 500 workers, or around 70% of the workforce, at its Bakubung mine near Rustenburg, in South Africa, it said on Thursday, as it shifts from phased development of the delayed project to a single-stage ramp-up.
While South Africa accounts for more than 70% of the global supply of the metal used in autocatalysts that reduce vehicle exhaust emissions, new platinum projects like Bakubung are increasingly rare.
Platinum miners are apprehensive about expanding production as the industry faces a long-term threat from electric vehicles, which do not require autocatalyst metals.
Chinese-backed Wesizwe is abandoning its original plan for a phased ramp-up for Bakubung that would have started with 1 million metric tons of annual production.
The project, which has been in development for around 15 years, will now follow a single-stage ramp-up to 3.5 million tons per year, Wesizwe said in a statement.
“This revised
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