Analysts are predicting that platinum miner Lonmin will post promising figures when it announces its interim results on Wednesday.

The rising price of pgms is expected to help push Lonmin's earnings up for the year to September compared to the previous year, reports Business Day.

Shares at the platinum producer have jumped since the start of the year, from R99 in January to R168 in recent weeks as the interest in platinum companies has grown due to the increasing value of the precious metal.

The increase in anticipated earnings is also anticipated because Lonmin announced during its fourth quarter results last month that platinum production at the firm was above forecasts, at 916,420 ounces of platinum and 1.7 million ounces of pgms.

Last month, Lonmin's chief financial officer John Robinson predicted that the company's underlying earnings would include a $22 million insurance gain, as well as a $29 million improvement in metallurgical recoveries.

While earnings are likely to be dampened by the reduction in capacity following the Marikana smelter explosion last November, that smelter returned to full capacity during the fourth quarter, helping to push production ahead of expectations.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd