Ralph Havenstein, CEO of world number one platinum producer Anglo American Platinum, has spoken to Mining Weekly about his plans to protect the company from the current strength of the rand.

A R7-to-the-dollar yardstick is being employed to settle a new base from which the company can remain profitable.

The crucial challenge, according to Mr Havenstein, is to reposition the company within the changed economic environment.

'Whether the rand needs to be as strong as it is we can debate, but what its reality forces us to do is to review our business to ensure that it is robust going forward,' he said.

He added that tough decisions would have to be taken, and that every AngloPlat employee, from Head Office to the mines, would be expected to pull in the same direction.

'There is no doubt that all of our lives are going to be tougher and redundancies cannot be excluded,' he warned.

He also remarked that the company's board had to 'ensure that Anglo Platinum's expansions take place in the most optimal way', a reference to the deferred announcement on how much of the company's planned expansion would be suspended due to the price of the rand.

Maintaining that expansion, and conversely avoiding over-supply, would both ensure the preservation of a high platinum price and prevent the emergence of non-platinum alternatives, he said.

He added that a price spike of the kind that caused palladium's downfall a couple of years ago would have to be avoided, revealing that he hopes the jewellery market will, given that is 'price sensitive and, therefore, flexible', act as a 'safety valve.'