South African authorities approve Sibanye's platinum acquisitions

JOHANNESBURG, March 17 (Reuters) - Sibanye Gold said on Thursday that South African regulators approved its acquisitions of Anglo American Platinum's Rustenburg mines and all of the shares in Aquarius Platinum .

The approvals all but seal Sibanye's move into the troubled platinum sector, which has been hard hit by depressed prices and periodic eruptions of violent labour unrest.

The Rustenburg transaction still requires regulatory approval from the mines ministry.

South Africa's Competition Tribunal said on Tuesday it was weighing its approval of Sibanye's plan to acquire platinum mines over concerns that 510 jobs could be lost if the deals proceed.

Sibanye had pushed for some layoffs to be allowed, mostly head office positions, and the company said the Competition Tribunal seemed to accept that.

"We made a case that we needed to downsize and they seemed to accept that. We need to cut costs to make the operations sustainable and in the long run save 13,000 jobs at Rustenburg," said spokesman James Wellsted.

Amplats' Rustenburg operations west of Johannesburg have been hit by labour unrest in recent years. Parent Anglo American has been keen to sell its stake in the labour-intensive the mines.

The Rustenburg deal involves staggered payments of 4.5 billion rand ($287 million) while Sibanye has agreed to pay $294 million for Aquarius.

($1 = 15.6655 rand) (Reporting by Ed Stoddard; Editing by Joe Brock)