18th Dec 2006 14:00
Lonmin PLC18 December 2006 Lonmin Plc Number One Furnace Shut Down Lonmin announces that a leak has occurred adjacent to one of the matte tap holesin its number one furnace. The furnace has been shut down and no one was hurt asa result of the leak. We currently believe that the necessary repairs to thefurnace will take around 30 to 40 days. During this time we will run our threePyromet furnaces and build up concentrate inventory ahead of the Smelter. Wecurrently have no plans to sell additional concentrate over and above ourcurrent commitments. In the second half of 2006 in order to provide additional smelting capacity andas a back up to the number one furnace we took a decision to recommission ourMerensky furnace. We plan to run this in parallel with the number one furnace inthe second half of our 2007 financial year to reduce accumulated concentrateinventory and allow us to mitigate the impact of the number one furnace outageon production. Our best current estimate is that our production for the firsthalf of the 2007 financial year will be reduced by between 30,000 and 40,000ounces of Platinum. We will use our best endeavours to recover these Platinumounces in the second half of the financial year. Enquiries: Alex Shorland-Ball +44 (0)207 201 6060 or Vice President, +44 (0)7917 038 684 Investor Relations & Communications This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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