* Amplats, Impala and Lonmin gear up for talks in June
* Platinum price down around 30 pct year-on-year
By Ed Stoddard and Zandi Shabalala
CAPE TOWN, Feb 8 (Reuters) - The world's top platinumproducers, which are losing money as costs soar and prices sink,are pleading poverty in advance of South African wage talks setto start in April.
Anglo American Platinum, Impala Platinum and Lonmin will again be sitting around the table withthe hardline Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union(AMCU), which lead a five-month strike in 2014.
"The companies very focused on getting the message across ofthe dire economic situation that platinum is in," Elize Strydom,the chief negotiator for South Africa's Chamber of Mines, toldreporters at an industry conference in Cape Town.
"They are really doing a lot of leg work from CEO level tothe investor relations people to share the realities of what ishappening in platinum," she said.
Prices for platinum, used for emissions-cappingcatalytic converters in automobiles, lost a quarter of theirvalue last year and were down 30 percent year-on-year at thestart of February.
Underscoring the industry's woes, Amplats reported an 86percent drop in full-year profit on Monday, hit by write-downsand restructuring costs amid depressed prices.
Lonmin recently had to go back to shareholders for a rightsissue to shore up its battered balance sheet.
"The best time to influence the demands is obviously beforethe negotiations begin. To bring some realism into the wholedebate," Strydom said.
The current wage agreements expire in June.
The Chamber of Mines reckons that about 80 percent of SouthAfrica's plantinum industry is currently loss-making. The wagetalks will involve around 125,000 workers, Strydom said.
One thing that needs to be ironed out is whether the talkswill take place at the company level, or will the trio cometogether for collective talks with AMCU, which is known for itsuncompromising approach to wage negotiations.
"The preference of the industry is that they would prefer todo it centrally. It saves time," Strydom said. (Editing by James Macharia)
