Anglo American Platinum swings into the red in 2012

Diversified mining group Anglo American is to take a loss of 225m dollars at its troubled South African platinum division for 2012, the company announced on Monday morning.

Anglo American Platinum, or Amplats, reported a IFRS headline loss of 1,468m South African rand, or $170m, for the 12 months to December 31st, compared with a$527m profit in 2011.

The contribution to parent company Anglo American's underlying earnings would be -$225m, compared with a $410m profit the year before.

While no operational information was provided with the unit's results, Amplats's problems have been widely known.

The division launched a massive restructuring and cost savings programme last month after being hit by strikes and falling prices in 2012.

"The platinum business has attractive underlying fundamentals, but we are facing tough decisions to restore profitability to our operations," said Amplats Chief Executive Chris Griffith.

The shake-up, which would include consolidating and exiting existing assets, will put 14,000 jobs on the line. This unsurprisingly drew the harsh criticism from politicians and labour unions.