GDP Goldplat Plc

Goldplat plc / Ticker: GDP / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining & Exploration

12 November 2024

Goldplat plc

('Goldplat' or the 'Company')

1st Quarter Operating Results update for period ended 30 September 2024

Goldplat plc, (AIM:GDP) the AIM listed Mining Services Group, with international gold recovery operations located in South Africa and Ghana, servicing the African and South American Mining Industry, is pleased to announce an operational update for the 1^st quarter ended 30 September 2024 ("Q1").

The two recovery operations achieved a combined operating profit for the quarter of £1,838,000 (excluding listing and head office costs, finance cost and foreign exchange losses) (FY Q1 2024 - £1,865,000). The finance cost and foreign exchange losses incurred in Q1 mainly related to trading activities and resulted in a combined profit before tax excluding listing and head office costs for Q1 of £1,451,000 (FY Q1 2024 - £1,455,000).

The Ghanaian operation which benefitted from an increasing gold price and continuous good supply of material, achieved a profit before tax for Q1 of £901,000 (FY Q1 2024 - £708,000). The Ghanaian operation is however going through a business model change with the requirement to beneficiate all concentrates to doré gold bars in country which is placing increased demands on working capital. Further detail on this business model change is explained in more detail below.

The South African operation achieved a profit before tax for Q1 of £550,000 (FY Q1 2024 - £747,000) and was supported by stable production, albeit lower than the previous year, improved cost management and increasing gold price.

Gold Recovery Ghana ("GRG")

·      As announced in the FY Q4 2024 update, the focus and preference of the authorities in Ghana is on local beneficiation of concentrate. The transition in process for GRG has had the following impact:

o  A reduction in debtors as doré bars produced from concentrate can be sold and payment received in less than 2 weeks, which is lower than the turnaround of circa 4 months in the past;

o  Increase in inventory value on site which has been driven by a good supply of material from our current customer base and healthy stock levels before the transition started. Through investment in plant capacity and changes at our operations, we believe these levels should normalise over the next 2 quarters; 

o  We are actively engaging clients to manage supply against current and future requirements and where possible, will divert material to South Africa to ensure a more diversified solution for our customers; and

o  We plan to make use of working capital facilities to finance material onsite in the medium term whilst our plant capacity is increased and stock levels are managed.

·      As a result of these changes, GRG is currently the only local gold by-product beneficiation provider in Ghana. We are still planning to invest £900,000 to increase capacity in the short-term, after approval from the authorities is obtained for the expansion. This investment is required to increase plant capacity and to increase the recovery of gold from concentrate on site.

·      Our objective is to improve and enhance our current solution so that we are able to provide a niche solution to customers at their mine site in future, who due to current country regulations may not be able to export material to our premises in Ghana.

·      The local beneficiation requirement has impacted all aspects of our business and we continue to review, update and change our process and procedures to manage risks and maximize margins.

Goldplat Recovery (Pty) Ltd

·      Production during Q1 2025 remained stable, after declining during the last 2 years, due to continuous improvement initiatives to improve recoveries. Strict cost control measures have been implemented to conserve cash in the short term.

·      Our focus remains on increasing our by-product market share in South Africa as we expect reductions in by-products received from current mining operations due to changes in their production profile.

·      During the quarter, we paid the last monthly instalment on the loan from Nedbank. The loan of £3m was used to buy back 16.6% of shares from minorities in South Africa in 2021.

·      We continue to focus on the work required to begin processing our old TSF which has a JORC Resource (January 2016) of 81,959 ounces in 1.43m metric tonnes (Table 1), at a DRD Gold processing facility. Since the completion of the JORC resource, circa 800,000 metric tonnes of material have been added to the facility at grades of circa 1.45g/t as per plant data and not included in current resource statement.

·      The processing of the old TSF remains dependent on the approval of the water use license by local authorities and approval from third parties in certain areas for the installation of a pipeline to the DRD Gold processing facility. During Q1 there has been several engagements with all parties involved and good progress has been made, with the aim of getting all approvals completed by June 2025.  

Our cash balances in the group remained strong at £3,100,000 at the end of Q1. The cash balances will mainly be used to manage working capital requirements in Ghana and repayment of intercompany loan balances and other capital requirements

Werner Klingenberg, CEO of Goldplat commented: "I am pleased with what our teams in the two business units have achieved during Q1. In Ghana, the team managed to implement several new processes and procedures in a short period to focus the business on local beneficiation and in South Africa, on streamlining the operations due to lower visibility of supply of material. This was all done whilst maintaining operational profitability. There is still significant work to be done, but all our efforts will create a more robust business providing a niche solution to the industry it operates in.

The focus for the remainder of the year is to reduce inventory levels in Ghana, whilst increasing cash on hand, improve the local beneficiation solution in Ghana to ensure constant margins, progress the approval of the TSF pipeline, continue cost management efforts in South Africa and increase market share in South Africa."

For further information visit www.goldplat.com, follow on X @GoldPlatGDP or contact:

Table 1

Mineral Resource Estimate of the TSF, South Africa

The Tailings Mineral Resource Estimate was announced in accordance with the JORC Code (2012) in a press release on 29 January 2016. Mark Austin of Applied Geology & Mining (Pty) Ltd was the Competent Person responsible for that announcement. The Company confirms that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the Resource Estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the "UK MAR") which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The information is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of the UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.