A year ago South Africa's biggest gold producer was churning cash, sizing up acquisitions and plotting expansion projects.
Today Sibanye Gold is shutting mines. The difference? A big rebound in the rand.
High costs and labour-intensive operations mean Sibanye and other producers are highly leveraged to one of the world's most volatile major currencies.
Sibanye expects to report a first-half loss of at least $360-million (about R4.73-billion), compared with a $22-million profit a year earlier, the company said yesterday.
The loss was partly due to the rand, which averaged 14% stronger during the period.
Last year Sibanye was considering deepening some of its existing operations and had a plan to remine old waste dumps for gold.
Now it is working on plans to close its Cooke and Beatrix West operations, potentially affecting 7400 jobs. The stock has dropped by 58% in the past 12 months.