Lonmin has announced that its Number One furnace is heating up and will be running by the end of April.

The platinum miner admitted that its production had been hit by the shutdown of the furnace in December last year.

Lonmin Chief Executive Brad Mills said: "Our second quarter production and sales of refined metal were impacted by the shutdown of the Number One furnace on 16 December 2006.

"Total refined metal sales were 513,278 oz of total pgms down 27.8 per cent on the same period last year."

He added: "We have completed the rebuild of the Number One furnace, which is currently heating up. We expect to resume normal smelting and refining operations by the end of this month."

Sales for the last six months of platinum and palladium stood at 273,191 oz and 124,884 oz respectively.

Sources:

Lonmin sees Number One furnace back by end-April, 25/04/07
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=companyOutlooksNews&storyID=2007-04-25T070213Z_01_L25503412_RTRIDST_0_LONMIN-TRADING-UPDATE-1.XML

Furnace shutdown cools Lonmin, 25/04/07
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/Business/Article.aspx?id=446862

Lonmin First Half Production Report, 25/04/07
http://www.lonmin.com/assets/pdf/Final%20H1%20Production%20Report%2025%20April%202007.pdf

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