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JOHANNESBURG, Jan 28 (Reuters) - Lonmin said onThursday it would continue to review its services and reducecosts, mainly through job cuts, as the sliding price of platinumbites further.
The company said labour costs fell 194 million rand ($11.8million) in the last three months of 2015 after it shed 5,077jobs, or 84.6 percent of its planned reduction in headcount.
"Progress continues with the restructuring programme due tothe new benchmarked operating model and removal of high-costproduction to ensure the business remains viable," Lonmin saidin a statement.
It is targeting savings of 700 million rand in 2016.
Hurt by a 2014 strike, rising costs and a plunging platinumprice, Lonmin raised $400 million through a cash call inDecember which failed to find favour with shareholders andpriced shares at about a penny each.
Some of the proceeds of the rights issue were used to paydown debt, leaving the company with $69 million in cash at endof December.
The miner said production of refined platinum reached171,441 ounces in the three months to the end of December, up22.6 percent from a year earlier.
The price of platinum has been on the decline forabout five years. It fell 26 percent last year and is trading atless than half its 2011 peak.
Shares in Lonmin have lost nearly all of their value overthe last year. It was the worst-hit of three top platinum minersby the 2014 five-month labour stoppage.
Lonmin maintained its full-year production guidance of700,000 platinum ounces and its capital expenditure plan of $132million despite projecting sustained weaker metal prices.
($1 = 16.3897 rand) (Reporting by Zandi Shabalala; editing by David Clarke andJason Neely)
