Zandi Shabalala | LONDON

Platinum producer Lonmin will move its head offices from Johannesburg to its Marikana operations in South Africa in a move that will save it “tens of millions” of rand, Chief Executive Ben Magara said on Monday.

“For me it’s really about getting closer to the operations and giving support to our management teams,” Magara said on a conference call following the release of its first-half results.

Lonmin reports H1 operating loss, cuts spending target

The South Africa-focused platinum producer on Monday reported a first-half operating loss of $181 million hit by higher costs and lower production.

It reported a headline loss of $39 million versus a loss of $4 million a year earlier. It had a loss per share of 64.4 cents versus 1.8 cents.

The London-listed miner also cut its spending plan for the year to a range of 1.4 billion to 1.5 billion rand ($105.1 million to $112.6 million) from 1.8 billion rand.

($1 = 13.3172 rand)