By Anthony O. Goriainoff


Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd. said Thursday that first-quarter adjusted Ebitda fell 31%, and that its gold production in South Africa fell due to the labor dispute at its operations.

For the quarter ended March 31, the Johannesburg-listed precious metals miner posted adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of 13.66 billion South African Rand ($886.7 million) compared with ZAR19.83 billion for the first quarter of 2021.

The company said gold production in South Africa fell to 137,091 ounces from 249,392 ounces the year before.

Sibanye-Stillwater said the socio-economic and labor environment in South Africa remained challenging and that its gold operations were being subject to a lockout organized by two unions following extended wage negotiations.

Sibanye said its annual gold production guidance for South Africa was suspended due to the lockout.

"We continue to engage with organized labor in order to secure a fair and sustainable agreement, but will not be coerced into above inflation wage demands which may impact on the sustainability of our operations and negatively impact other stakeholders," the company said.

U.S. palladium and platinum production fell to 122,389 ounces from 154,350 ounces in the year-prior period.

The company backed its U.S. and South Africa platinum group production for 2022.


Write to Anthony O. Goriainoff at anthony.orunagoriainoff@dowjones.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-05-22 0306ET