Platinum mining firm Lonmin has announced that its precious metals refinery is now operating at full capacity following the recent fire at the plant.

The emergency forced the company to shut the refinery last week, causing its production levels to be affected.

However, Lonmin announced on September 8th that production at the facility had returned to normal as the firm was able to source the replacement materials needed to carry out repairs at the plant more quickly than it had initially anticipated.

In its original announcement following the fire, Lonmin predicted that the site would be closed for around a week, but despite the speed of the repairs the company is still set to defer some production into the first quarter of 2007.

In a statement released by Lonmin, the company revealed: "The incident will result in the deferring of around 10,000 ounces of platinum sales for 2006 into the first quarter of the 2007 financial year."

This figure is well down on the initial estimate of 25,000 ounces of platinum that the company thought would be deferred into 2007.


Ÿ Adfero Ltd