Q2 Production Report

14 May 2012

Lonmin Plc

Q2 2012 Production Report

Lonmin Plc, (Lonmin or the Company), the world's third largest Platinum producer, today announces its production results for the three months to 31 March 2012 (unaudited).

Overview

We made solid progress in our mining operational performance, with total tonnes mined flat at 2.9 million tonnes. This was achieved in spite of the continued impact of Section 54 notifications from the Department of Mineral Resources (DMR), which resulted in 170,000 tonnes of lost production. Our total Platinum metal in concentrate increased by 3.9% compared to the prior year period. The Refined Platinum production was however temporarily affected by a smelting stock build up due to an increase in sulphur in the feed to the Smelter. This occurred as a result of a greater percentage of Merensky ore being milled due to a series of Section 54 and internal safety stoppages that predominantly impacted our UG2 production. The Smelter is expected to operate at its normal levels in the third quarter as the ore mix returns to normal levels. The rate of stoppages reduced towards the end of the quarter as the benefits of dialogue around Section 54s with the DMR started to come through.

Our Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) for the quarter was 4.69 incidents per million man hours versus 4.67 for Q1 2012.

Mining Division

Total tonnes mined in the second quarter of 2012 from our Marikana underground operations were 2.8 million, an increase of 66,000 tonnes or 2.4% from the prior year period. This increase was in spite of the continued frequency and wide range of Section 54 safety reviews and stoppages that we experienced across all operations in the early part of the second quarter. Production at the Karee operations increased by 141,000, representing a 12.7% increase from the prior year period, whilst Middelkraal's production was up 52,000 tonnes or 11.9%. This increase was offset by the continued decrease in production at Westerns of 106,000 tonnes or 12.5% on the prior year as the planned decline at Newman continues. Production at Easterns decreased by 21,000 tonnes or 6.8% when compared against the prior year, mainly due to community unrest and the consequent effect on our labour force.

Production at our Merensky opencast operations in the period was 78,000 tonnes, a decrease of 65,000 tonnes when compared to the prior year period. This reflects the continued production slowdown that commenced in the first quarter as we focus on grade improvement. The production from Pandora increased by 7,000 tonnes to 51,000 tonnes.

The total impact of the Section 54 shut downs was 170,000 tonnes in lost production across all operations, including joint ventures, of which 100,000 tonnes were lost in January 2012. The total lost production compares to 48,000 tonnes lost in the prior year period. An additional 31,000 tonnes of production was lost as a result of management induced safety stoppages and 39,000 tonnes of production was lost as a result of community and labour unrest at Easterns. A summary of the direct impact on production of Section 54 stoppages is detailed below.

Process Division

Total tonnes milled in the quarter were marginally up at 3.0 million, a 0.8% increase from the prior year. Underground tonnes milled increased by 177,000 tonnes, or 6.7%, to 2.8 million tonnes, but this was largely offset by the 154,000 tonnes reduction in opencast tonnes milled.

Underground milled head grade was 4.46 grammes per tonne (5PGE+Au) down 0.11 grammes per tonne or 2.4% compared to the prior year period, as the proportion of Merensky mined continues to gradually increase. The overall milled head grade was 4.36 grammes per tonne, an improvement of 1.1% when compared to the prior year period. This was due to a lower proportion of higher grade opencast ore when compared to the prior year. The total head grade showed a decline of 2.5% from 4.47 grammes per tonne in the previous quarter as a result of the higher ratio of Merensky to UG2 in the mix.

Underground and overall concentrator recoveries were satisfactory at 85.7% and 85.6% respectively, a decrease of 0.4 and 0.2 percentage points respectively when compared with the prior year period and a quarter on quarter improvement of 0.4 and 0.3 percentage points respectively.

Platinum in concentrate from the Marikana operations was 173,564 saleable ounces, a 3.3% increase over the prior year period. In total the concentrators produced 181,172 saleable ounces of Platinum in the quarter, a 3.9% increase from the prior year period. This reflects the higher proportion of Merensky ore in the mix which contains a higher percentage of Platinum.

Total refined production for the quarter was 190,379 ounces of saleable Platinum, a decrease from the prior year of 15.4%. This decrease is due firstly to metal inventory in progress being temporarily affected by the increase of sulphur in the feed to the Smelter and secondly, the prior year refined production was significantly higher as operations normalised following the rebuild and modification of the Number One furnace in quarter one of 2011. Total Platinum Group Metals (PGMs) production for the quarter was 355,590 ounces, a decrease of 19.2% from the prior year.

Sales & Pricing

Platinum sales at 225,539 ounces were 10.5% lower than the prior year period as a result of the production constraints highlighted above and stock movement in the quarter. Total PGMs sales decreased by 15.4% to 418,988 ounces.

Chrome sales have more than doubled when compared to the prior year period as production at the chrome plants gains momentum.

The US dollar basket price at $1,164 during the quarter was 12.6% less than the prior year quarter. The corresponding Rand basket price was 3.5% lower than the prior year period.

Lonmin also publishes today, in a separate announcement, its interim results for the half year ending 31 March 2012.

ENQUIRIES:

Investors / Analysts:

Tanya Chikanza +44 (0) 207 201 6007

Head of Investor Relations

Ruli Diseko +44 (0) 207 201 6000

Investor Relations Manager

Media:

Cardew Group +44 (0) 207 930 0777

James Clark/Emma Crawshaw

Inzalo Communications +27 (0) 11 646 9992

Gillian Findlay/Bridget von Holdt