Aug 21 (Reuters) – South Africa’s Sibanye Stillwater has finalised a 1.8 billion rand ($101 million) gold prepayment deal to raise cash to help repay loans after a slump in platinum group metal (PGM) prices hurt its income, the diversified miner said on Wednesday.

The group had previously said it was seeking to raise more than $500 million through metals prepayment deals to shore up its balance sheet after earnings plunged due to the PGM price collapse.

Metals prepayment arrangements allow miners to sell their future production in return for an upfront cash payment.

The metals producer’s profits tumbled $2 billion last year due to lower prices and after it wrote down $2.6 billion in the carrying value of its U.S. palladium mines, a nickel operation in France and a gold mine in South Africa.

Sibanye Stillwater CEO Neal Froneman said in a statement on Wednesday the prepayment deal was a “proactive, strategic financing alternative that improves the group’s liquidity and balance sheet”.

Sibanye said it would deliver 1,497 kg of gold in equal monthly tranches from October 2024 to November 2026 in return for the prepaid cash. The cash will help to repay the group’s loans, it said.

The miner said it had also reached an agreement to refinance and increase its 5.5 billion rand revolving credit facility with South African lenders, which was due to mature in November 2024.

Refinancing allows a borrower to replace an existing debt obligation with a new one on more favourable terms.

The refinanced 6 billion rand facility will now mature in August 2027, with an option to extend it by a further two years, Sibanye said.

($1 = 17.8542 rand)

(Reporting by Nelson Banya; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)