The world's third-biggest platinum miner Lonmin has confirmed that repairs to its main South African smelter have been completed on budget after an accident last November.

Lonmin explained that the reconstruction cost within the $17 million estimate.

"Working capital and borrowing estimates also remain within the levels previously advised to the market," a spokesman told the Reuters news agency.

"The total proceeds of 129 million rand ($21.30 million) have been received in full in cash and will be accounted for as a credit to costs in the accounts for the six months to March 31st 2005."

Operations restarted on January 20th, with normal operations expected to commence in February.

The full-year impact of the accident was expected to be about 60 rand per ounce of platinum group metal sales, the miner announced last month.

This translates to total unit costs for the year ending September 2005 of around 2,475 rand per ounce.