Platinum producer Lonmin restarts furnace after repairs

LONDON, March 10 (Reuters) - South Africa's platinum producer Lonmin (LSE: LMI.L - news) has completed repairs and restarted operations at one of its furnaces and has ramped up production at its second furnace within schedule, the world's third-largest producer of the precious metal said.

The miner was hit by technical problems at both its furnaces late last year which has reduced its refined platinum output and sales in the last few months.

Furnace number one was stopped in early December for three months to fix a leak of molten furnace matte while furnace number two was halted at the end of December to address electrode breaks.

"Number One furnace is now operating in line with expectations. The Number Two furnace has ramped up and stabilised also according to plan," the company said in a statement.

The London-listed company repeated that as a consequence of the outage and lower sales in the first half it expected higher mid-year working capital and borrowings but said these should unwind by the year end.

Lonmin's shares have lost over 60 percent of their value in the last year. Platinum prices remain stubbornly low, and the company was also battered by a five-month strike last year.

More recently its main shareholder, Glencore (Xetra: A1JAGV - news) , decided to divest its stake, distributing Lonmin shares to Glencore's shareholders. (Reporting by Silvia Antonioli; editing by Susan Thomas)