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South Africa's platinum industry "extremely ill": Lonmin CEO

Lonmin Chief Executive Ben Magara (L) looks on after accepting a memorandum from striking miners outside Lonmin's headquarters in Johannesburg, April 3, 2014. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Lonmin's chief executive said on Thursday that 80 percent of South Africa's platinum production was making a loss and mines were not responding to cash injections from investors. "Many mines in the platinum sector today are extremely ill and have not responded to the one single cure of cash injections," Ben Magara said in a presentation at a mining event in Johannesburg. "The investors who have provided these capital injections have received little in the form of dividends, they are unlikely to look favourably to any future requests for capital." (Reporting by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo; Editing by Susan Fenton)