Impala Platinum, among the world’s top three platinum producers, on Tuesday said its profits for the six months ended December this year will likely be 20 percent lower than the previous comparable period.

The company, which is also listed on the JSE, said this was attributable to lower production at Impala Rustenburg, which was hit by the ramp up of operations to reach full capacity following the five-month strike during the second half of the financial year ended 30 June 2014.

“The group’s production was further impacted by industrial action and safety stoppages at Marula and the precautionary closure of the Bimha mine at Zimplats,” the firm said in a trading update.

Implats recently said it had been forced to evaluate its strategy after struggling to ramp up production following a five-month strike at its Rustenburg operations.

The world’s second biggest platinum miner said it would have to embark on an intensive cost management programme because it had to pay out salary hikes of up to 20 percent.

These hikes are a consequence of the crippling five-month-long strike which cost the company millions in lost production. “Costs in 2015 are not going to be pretty,” Reuters quoted CEO Terence Goodlace as having told reporters at a presser in Johannesburg. Goodlace was at pains to explain that this review will not lead to job cuts at Rustenburg mines.