The continued strengthening of the rand may jeopardise Sibanye Stillwater's plans to purchase the world's third-largest platinum miner, Lonmin. The currency, which has strengthened 6.5% since the turn of the year, may mean that Lonmin will start burning cash and struggle to service its debt in time for the deal to close with the Neal Froneman-led miner by the end of year. The cash-strapped miner has gone through three rights issues and has right-sized its business to stay afloat in low platinum price conditions. "It [rand strength] certainly puts more pressure on them but I have no doubt they will work very hard to make sure that they have a company that is debt-free. They have no option, they have to get there," Froneman said in an interview with Business Times. Late last year, Sibanye proposed acquiring Lonmin for $383-million (R4.4-billion) through a share structure and on condition it remained cash-neutral and without any debt by the time the deal closed. Since the Marikana trag...
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