Platinum Mining Companies Not Cutting Output Despite Weak Prices

Bloomberg reported that delays in shutting down loss-making platinum mines in South Africa could place further pressure on platinum prices. Firms such as Momentum Asset Management and Natixis SA see the resistance to cutting supply problematic for metals prices.
As quoted in the publication:

Production in South Africa, which accounts for more than 70 percent of global output, may rise 30 percent in 2015 from last year, the World Platinum Investment Council says. This is despite about three-quarters of platinum mines in the nation not being profitable, said Simon Hudson-Peacock, a money manager at Momentum.
Supplying more ounces amid excess inventories will prolong the rout that’s seen platinum drop 45 percent since the start of 2011 to the lowest since February 2009 this week. Yet South African producers face pressure to keep mines open as the labor-intensive assets employ thousands in a country where one in every four people is out of work
“I don’t know where this platinum price is heading, but pretty much all South African operations are under water,” Hudson-Peacock said by phone from Johannesburg. “The industry as a whole needs to take production offline.”
Technological advances are cutting how much metal is needed for vehicle emission-control systems, further dimming its outlook, said Nic Brown, head of commodities research at Natixis.

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