This delay is a result of a cyberattack on the company’s IT
systems, which caused limited disruptions to its global operations. The company
reported the cyberattack on July 11th and has since made significant
progress in restoring its systems.
“Although the cyber-attack has had limited impact on our
core operations, it caused temporary system outages which resulted in the
implementation of back-up manual processes on certain systems at the
operations,” Sibanye said in a statement.
Despite the fact that Sibanye’s mining and extraction
operations encountered minimal disruption, the Columbus metallurgical complex
situated at the U.S. PGM operations has experienced certain short-term
operational delays as a direct consequence of IT outages.
This has affected the smelting of underground concentrate
and the recycling of spent autocatalysts, Sibanye said, adding the built-up
stockpiles were expected to be processed “in due course”.
Sibanye extracts platinum and gold from mines located in
South Africa. Additionally, the company runs a palladium mine in the state of
Montana, USA, and has ongoing projects involving lithium, nickel, and zinc in
Finland, France, and Australia.