Lonmin shuts down furnace following 'incident'

Mining group Lonmin has reported an 'incident' at its number two furnace, which has resulted in the furnace being shut down.

The company said no one had been injured in the incident, which happened when the number one furnace has just shut down for its planned upgrade.

In a statementthe group said: "Our initial estimate is that a full repair to the number two furnace will take 30-40 days. A full inspection will be conducted once the furnace has cooled down later this week.

"The Three Pyromet furnaces, which have around 50% of our capacity requirements, continue to operate. In the meantime, we will be assessing the options around number one and the impact of number two and we will update the market in due course."

The company also warned that as a result of the fatality at the Merensky section of the K3 shaft last week, drilling and blasting operations there have been suspended until the investigation is complete.

The share price fell two per cent to 279.60p by 08:55 on Tuesday.