* Hit with losses, Lonmin striving to stay afloat
* Seeking $407 mln in massively-discounted share issue
* Aims to cut 6,000 jobs by next year to cut costs
* So far more than 3,000 workers have left voluntarily
By Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo
MARIKANA, South Africa, Nov 11 (Reuters) - As loss-makingplatinum producer Lonmin appeals for cash fromshareholders and slashes costs, many of its mine workers areeager to grab redundancy deals and leave a company battling tostay afloat.
Battered by strikes, rising costs and weak platinum prices,Lonmin is seeking to raise $407 million in a share issue -priced at a 94 percent discount this week - and another $370million in loans. It says the money is crucial for its survival.
The company, which operates in South Africa, is also closingor mothballing several mine shafts and cutting 6,000 jobs, or 15percent of its workforce.
The cuts, announced in July, were expected to be a hard sellin a country where the jobless rate is over 25 percent andunions have reacted to lay-offs with wildcat strikes in thepast. But so far more than 3,000 staff have left of their ownvolition, keen to snap up the voluntary redundancy and earlyretirement packages on offer, and others are seeking to follow.
"Some of us don't want to wait until we die to get themoney. I am a licensed rock drill operator so chances that Iwould be rehired at some point are high," a miner at Lonmin'sRowland shaft in Marikana, about 120 km (75 miles) northwest ofJohannesburg, told Reuters.
He is set to leave a company whose shares have tumbled over90 percent this year and which has knocked $1.8 billion off thevalue of its assets. The 106-year-old firm is now fighting toconvince the market it can be a viable business.
"Am not sure Lonmin will exist in five years' time," saidBernstein Research analyst Paul Gait.
"How can you have the levels of wage inflation in SouthAfrica, coupled with increasing mine depth against the backdropof zero productivity increases, and believe that is going togive you a sustainable future for the mining operations."
1 PENCE A SHARE
Lonmin's plight was illustrated on Monday when it priced itsrights issue at just 1 pence a share - a huge discount to thestock's closing price of 16.25 pence on the previous Friday.
That meant investors would have to buy 46 new shares forevery one they already hold, just to retain their current stakein percentage terms.
Analysts said the massive discount was a strategy to forceinvestors to take up their entitlement or risk having theirinvestment in the company almost completely diluted.
"I suspect supporting the rights is the only course ofaction for shareholders as the current equity is probablyworthless without it," said a top-30 investor in Lonmin.
Lonmin has said the share sale has been fully-underwritten.It said South Africa's Public Investment Corporation, which ownsabout 7 percent of the company, had committed to buying its fullentitlement and had "sub-underwritten a material portion" of theissue, over and above its entitlement.
But investor concerns over the company's viability remain,due to rising costs and lower platinum prices.
Spot platinum hit multi-year lows this year onconcerns about oversupply and slowing demand in top consumerChina. A five-month strike last year by South Africanplatinum-sector workers who were demanding higher wages didlittle to boost prices due to ample above-ground stocks.
Lonmin was hit hardest by the strike - South Africa'slongest and costliest - because unlike peers such as ImpalaPlatinum and Anglo American Platinum,virtually all its operations are concentrated in thestrike-affected Rustenburg area.
OUTPUT CUT
Chief Executive Ben Magara said the company had had a toughyear and had worked hard to make its workers and labour unionsunderstand the implications of its strained balance sheet.
But it had not yet reached at a point where it had toforcibly lay-off employees as some were leaving voluntarily, hesaid.
"The progressive way this process has unfolded would havebeen unthinkable two years ago," the CEO added.
The biggest operation earmarked for closure is the company'shigh-cost Hossy shaft, which accounts for about 8 percent ofannual production of over 700,000 ounces.
Lonmin has said the proposed restructuring would take about100,000 ounces out of production and bring in savings of 15 to20 percent.
The miner in Marikana who wants leave the company said hehad volunteered to go after finding out he would get 85,000 rand($5,979) for nine years of service, but has yet to receive afinal confirmation from the company.
Others are not so keen to head to the exit, however.
Another miner said he had also been willing to takevoluntary redundancy, but changed his mind after being offeredonly 130,000 rand ($9,145) for 18 years of service.
"I was not satisfied with the money so I am staying."
($1 = 14.2150 rand) (Additional reporting by Simon Jessop in London; Editing byPravin Char)
