March 5 (Reuters) - Sibanye Stillwater (SSWJ.J) , opens new tab on Tuesday reported a $2 billion annual loss and scrapped its final dividend after taking a hit from a slump in metal prices that is forcing South African mining companies to restructure and cut jobs.

The precious metals producer swung to the loss last year from a $1.2 billion profit the previous year and record earnings in 2021, when prices for rhodium and palladium, which are extracted alongside platinum, rallied.

It reported impairments of $2.6 billion at its U.S. palladium mines, a nickel operation in France and a gold mine in South Africa due in part to the significant decline in metal prices and an uncertain outlook.

The loss comes after CEO Neal Froneman embarked on a deal spree, buying battery metal assets in France, Finland, Australia and the U.S. Sibanye last year also attempted to buy a copper mine in Zambia, but was eventually outbid by a rival.

Froneman said in a statement that more restructuring might be required, especially at its U.S. PGM operations and the Sandouville nickel refinery in France.

"We recognize however that if low commodity prices persist, earnings are going to remain under pressure and, with ongoing inflationary cost pressure, there may be further restructuring required," Froneman said.

Sibanye's peers Anglo American Platinum (AMSJ.J) , opens new tab and Impala Platinum (IMPJ.J) , opens new tab are also restructuring loss-making operations and cutting costs, a process which will cost thousands of jobs.

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/sibanye-falls-2-bln-loss-scraps-final-dividend-after-write-offs-2024-03-05/