Valterra Platinum reports significant gains despite unpaid R1.5 billion owed by Zimbabwe

Valterra Platinum Platinum has posted strong results for the year ended 31 December 2025, despite a payment of over R1.5 billion ($100 million) remaining outstanding from the government of Zimbabwe.

2025 marked the miner's successful demerger from Anglo American plc and its launch as Valterra Platinum (previously Anglo American Platinum), including a secondary listing on the London Stock Exchange.

Valterra's headline earnings per share increased 98% to R63.48 per share, primarily due to its R13.6 billion higher EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization).

The money it's owed by Zimbabwe centres on 2025 export proceeds in a country that requires all exporters to retain only 70% of their proceeds in foreign currency, with the balance being converted to local currency.

Valterra and its platinum industry peers have faced delayed payments under the retention rule, reports Reuters, quoting Zimbabwe's mining chamber. The government has cited cash flow constraints for the delays, the news agency says.

In conversation with Stephen Grootes, CEO Craig Miller says ensuring that they receive the full proceeds of the revenue they generate in Zimbabwe is key for Valterra Platinum.

"We've been in discussions with the government to rectify the situation. It's been going on for a couple of months now where we've not been able to receive the local currency element of the remittances, and we're engaging with them to try to rectify the situation going forward."

Miller says they need to put something in place which is sustainable not only for Valterra, but for the PGM industry as a whole in Zimbabwe.

"We need to continue with the ongoing conversations that we're having with the Ministry of Finance, the Reserve Bank, the Ministry of Mine and others, and come up with a sustainable solution which supports the action the government's taking to improve the fiscal situation, but also address the requirements for us as a miner, and particularly our Unki mine in Zimbabwe."

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While high platinum prices have enabled them to generate sufficient cash to continue with the operation, this is clearly not a sustainable position, Miller says.

"We need to ensure that the full proceeds of what we generate are returned back to Valterra Platinum so that we can continue to deploy that capital back into the business, both in Zimbabwe and here in South Africa, and that's the position we've been in conversation with Zimbabwe's government to rectify."

For more detail from the Valterra Platinum CEO, listen to the interview audio at the top of the article