TIDMGDP
RNS Number : 2365O
Goldplat plc
08 February 2021
G ol dp lat plc / Ti cker: GDP / Index: AIM / Secto r: M in i ng
& E x p l o rati on
08 February 2021
Goldplat plc
( 'Goldplat', t he 'Group' or 'the Company ')
Quarterly Update - Update on the six months ended 31 December
2020
G ol dp lat pl c, the AIM li sted g o ld p r o ducer, w ith
internati onal g o ld reco very o perati ons l o cated in South Afr
i ca and Ghana, is p leased to announce an operational update for
the six months ended 31 December 2020.
Recovery operations achieved a combined operating profit for the
six months ended 31 December 2020 of GBP3,042,000 (31 December
2019: GBP2,810,000). Within this, the South African operation
achieved an operating profit of GBP2,200,000 (31 December 2019:
GBP2,659,000) and the Ghana operation increased operating
profitability by more than 5-fold to GBP842,000 (31 December 2019:
GBP151,000).
The following events have contributed to continued profitability
during the six months -
South Africa
-- During the period, there has been significant investment of
time and resources in gathering data to optimize our current
production lines in South Africa and also on our Tailings Storage
Facility (TSF). These investments contributed to a reduction of
operating profit year-on-year. The goal remains to establish
production lines that can operate profitability on a sustainable
resource.
-- Capital expenditure in the amount of GBP 180,000 was incurred
on the further optimisation of the largest milling and
Carbon-in-Leach ('CIL') processing unit with the addition of
equipment to optimise the recovery from carbon contaminated
material. We will start seeing results from current investment
towards the end of this quarter. In the interim we succeeded in
sourcing better quality material that will support production
through this circuit during the 3(rd) quarter, with January already
showing improved production numbers.
-- Normal operating costs increased, specifically as a result of
electricity price increases, more water used from the Rand Water
Board and rental of yellow machinery for material handling purposes
in addition to higher security and engineering costs.
-- The arrangements made to transport our staff in a hygienic
and safe manner as a result of Covid-19 restrictions, cost the
South African subsidiary an additional GBP75,000.
-- We also evaluated an alternate PGM resource at some cost. We
achieved mixed results but will continue our endeavours to
penetrate and pursue this market.
-- In South Africa we expect that approval for the construction
of the new TSF will be received by July, and we plan to start
pre-construction work during the fourth quarter. In the interim, a
further GBP80,000 of capital expenditure has been incurred to
extend the deposition area and to manage the current TSF whilst the
new TSF is being constructed, at an estimated cost of
GBP700,000.
-- The test work on re-processing the existing TSF has advanced
to the point where we have established what we believe to be the
optimal processing routes in terms of gold recovery, processing
volumes and operating costs. These options will now be evaluated by
accredited technical facilities to obtain the data on which the
final processing plan can be designed.
Ghana
-- We experienced a good supply from our regular clients during the period.
-- Our efforts in Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast to secure
additional sources of supply continue, with engagements at mine and
Government level.
-- We have received a low-grade trial batch from another mine in
Mali for evaluation purposes and initial results are encouraging.
By achieving a larger geographical spread with more clients, our
objective is to have a steady supply to our plant in Tema from
current production rather than ad hoc supplies from stockpiles.
-- We are still engaging with relevant authorities in Ghana on
re-entering the processing and tolling of tailings material.
Kilimapesa Update
-- We are encouraged with the progress made during the last
month on the sale of Kilimapesa to Mayflower. The transaction has
been approved by a majority of Papillon shareholders, Papillon
creditors deeds have been executed and we are in a position to
complete the due diligence.
-- The approval processes in Kenya are progressing well.
We plan to release the unaudited consolidated financial
statements for the six months ended 31 December 2020 in the
beginning of March.
We remain committed to our strategy of increasing long term
visibility of earnings in the recovery businesses through key
initiatives. These key initiatives include:
-- improving our gold recoveries from lower grade contaminated
material, effectively reducing the grade of the material we will be
able to source economically. Reserves of lower grade materials are
more readily available and, help to alleviate the sourcing
risk;
-- Building strategic partnerships within the mining industry;
-- Evaluating the investment into larger t ailings storage
facility and additional mill and leaching capacity to enable us to
reprocess our current TSF; and
-- Increased investment into sourcing initiatives and test work
on a wider range of materials, including PGM discards.
Werner Klingenberg, CEO of Goldplat commented: "I am pleased to
report continued operational profitability and especially the
improved operational performance in Ghana. We are investing time
and resource to achieve our goals of sustainable supply and
profitability that can form the base for the declaration of
dividends in future.
The sale of Kilimapesa is progressing well and we will keep
market updated during February as the transaction advances.
For further i n fo rmat i on v i s it www .g o ld p lat.com, f o
l l ow on Twitter @GoldPlatPlc or contact:
Werner Klingenberg Goldplat plc Tel: +27 (0) 82 051 1071
(CEO)
Colin Aaronson / Harrison Grant Thornton UK LLP Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383
Clarke/Seamus Fricker (Nominated Adviser) 5100
James Joyce / Jessica WH Ireland Limited Tel: +44 (0) 207 220
Cave (Broker) 1666
Tim Thompson / Mark Edwards Flagstaff Strategic and Tel: +44 (0) 207 129
/ Fergus Mellon Investor Communications 1474
goldplat@flagstaffcomms.com
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END
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