By Ian Walker


Sibanye-Stillwater Ltd. said Tuesday that it expects to report falls in 2022 earnings per share which it attributed to a number of factors including industrial action, bad weather and the challenging macroeconomic and geopolitical environment.

The precious-metals mining company said that it expects to report earnings per share for the year ended Dec. 31 of between 38 U.S. cents and 42 cents compared with 77 cents for the comparable period a year earlier.

Headline earnings per share are expected to be between 38 cents and 42 cents compared with 86 cents in 2021.

Production from South African precious group metal operations for 2022 was 1.7 million ounces, below the lower end of guidance, Sibanye added.

South African gold operations production fell 50% to 13,736 kilograms due to wage-related strike action which resulted in operations being suspended for three months during the first half of the year. However, production over the second half improved to 10,608kg from 3,128kg in the first half.

U.S. PGM operations fell 5% over the year to 421,133 ounces due to flooding in Montana that led to operations being shut down for seven weeks.

"The company is now well positioned to deliver an improved performance for 2023 through the normalization of production rates at the SA gold and U.S. PGM operations with the concomitant improved unit cost performance," Chief Executive Neal Froneman said.


Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-21-23 0621ET