Fall in platinum prices leads Anglo Platinum to slash 10,000 jobs

Anglo Platinum, which is the world’s largest platinum miner, has announced it is to shed 10,000 jobs.

The job losses represent approximately 13% of the group’s global workforce.

The job losses are due to a slump in demand from car manufacturers and a sharp fall in platinum prices which have more than halved from their all-time high in March last year.

The South African group said 8,000 jobs will go in the first half of the year, while a further 2,000 jobs will go in the latter half of 2009.

Anglo Platinum which is majority owned by London-based mining giant Anglo American, released full-year figures showing a 5% drop in operating profit to R17.7 billion (£1.2 billion).

In related news, the problems in the mining sector have led Rio Tinto to slash 14,000 job losses worldwide. Rio, which is the world’s second-largest mining group, is struggling to reduce debt of around $40 billion.

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