REG - Goldplat plc - 1st Quarter Results

GoldplatAnnouncement

08/11/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 6528F  Goldplat plc  08 November 2022

 

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

 

 

8 November 2022

 

Goldplat plc

('Goldplat', the 'Group' or 'the Company')

 

1st Quarter operating results update

for the period ended 30 September 2022 ("Q1")

 

 

Goldplat, 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 Q1.

 

The two recovery operations continued the strong combined operating
performance of the previous quarter and achieved a combined operating profit
for the quarter of £1,942,000 (excluding listing and head office costs and
foreign exchange losses) which represents a 38% increase against Q1 in the
previous period (Q1 2021: £1,403,000).

 

The Ghanaian operation continues to perform well as a result of the steady
supply of material and achieved an operating profit for Q1 of £966,000 (Q1
2021: £839,000).

 

The South African operations continued to produce steady returns from the
assortment of material processed through a variety of plants.  During the
quarter the operations have been impacted due to intermittent electricity cuts
by the electricity provider in the country to reduce the load on the network.
Notwithstanding the electricity cuts, the South African operation achieved an
operating profit for Q1 of £976,000 (Q1, 30 September 2021: £564,000).

 

Goldplat's returns are impacted by changes in reporting currencies for each
subsidiary and United States Dollar ("USD"), as well as the gold price.

 

During Q1, the Group operating entities' operational results benefited from
the weakening of the reporting currencies Ghanaian Cedi and the South African
Rand, which increased operating results by circa £500,000. As the Company
receives payment for the majority of its revenue on pre-financing contracts,
foreign exchange losses in the order of £500,000 have been incurred during
the period have not been reflected in the operational results above. Taking
account of these exchange losses, operating profit for the recovery operations
for the quarter was £1,442,000.

 

Although Goldplat processes an assortment of material throughout the Group
from different clients and on different contracts making use of a wide range
of plant and equipment, the Group has been delivering profitable albeit
fluctuating operations returns, for the last 11 quarters, which is in line
with management's focus on ensuring sustainable cashflow and profitability.

 

The Group is further pleased to announce that:

 

-     DRD Gold Limited ("DRD Gold") has agreed for Goldplat Recovery (Pty)
Ltd ("GPR") to remove low-grade carbon contaminated soils from their premises,
on a cost per ton basis, which should provide circa 5 years of additional feed
for our larger CIL circuit. The CIL circuit currently contributes between 20%
to 30% of the South African operation´s production. This increases the
availability of material for this circuit to more than 7 years and will form a
good base for the business going forward.

-     The nature of these materials to be removed from DRD Gold, will be
variable, in terms of the gold grade contained and the recoverability of the
gold contained through our circuits. The analysis and processing of these
materials to date has indicated that it will be viable to remove and process
at current cost and price parameters.

-     DRD Gold is also assisting GPR to get approval for the construction
of a pipeline to one of their plants. The pipeline will provide GPR with the
ability to process the existing Tailings Storage Facility ("TSF") which
contains a JORC resource of circa 82,000 ounces of gold (Table 1) at a DRD
Gold processing facility.

-     The negotiations of the terms and conditions of processing our
existing TSF at a DRD Gold processing facility still need to be finalised.

-     The approval of the pipeline by authorities is taking longer than
originally expected, but we believe this will be received, at the latest, by
June 2023.

 

 

Goldplat has identified and to an extent secured material in ECOWAS ("The
Economic Community of West African States"); however the export and processing
of these materials remain dependent on approval from governments' officials.
We continue our engagement with the governments and mines in the ECOWAS to
agree processes and controls on the export of gold bearing products and remain
encouraged by the value we have identified that we can offer in these
countries.

 

The majority of material processed in Ghana during Q1 was from clients inside
the country.

 

We continue with our expansion into South America on a measured basis, with
limited capital allocated as yet.

 

Despite numerous issues experienced during the commissioning of the PGM
flotation plant in South Africa, which has resulted in us not being able to
run the plant optimally to date, we are encouraged with the progress made and
with the increased flexibility the flotation plant will provide us in the type
of material we can process.

 

The construction of the new TSF will start in Q2 (to 31 December 2022) and we
aim to have this completed by the end of Q4 (to 30 June 2023)

 

During Q1 the Group incurred capital cost of £630,000 and we are estimating
that we will require a further £1,500,000 during the next 12 to 18 months to
be spent, on repairing and maintaining current operations, and on improved
lining of the new TSF and improving the environmental impacts of our current
processes.

 

We are currently estimating to announce the Group's audited annual results
towards the beginning of December 2022.

 

Cash balances in the group remained strong at £2,920,000 at the end of Q1 (Q1
2021: £2,340,000), (Q4 2022: £3,672,000).

 

Werner Klingenberg, CEO of Goldplat commented: "I am pleased to announce the
progress we have made in achieving our key strategic deliverables, generating
continued profitability from the processing of previously mined gold and PGM
materials, increased visibility of future earnings through increasing our
resources and forming strategic relationships with other key industry
participants, finding a final deposition site and processing plant for our
existing TSF and getting approval for the construction of a new TSF.

 

We continue to invest time into identifying different methods of processing
materials containing various elements in environmentally friendlier methods to
become a key service provider to the mining industry to beneficiate, process
and dispose of their by-products and waste.

 

For further information visit www.goldplat.com, follow on Twitter @GoldPlatPlc
or contact:

 

 Werner Klingenberg                                 Goldplat plc                                     Tel: +27 (0) 82 051 1071

                                                    (CEO)

 Colin Aaronson / George Grainger / Samuel Littler  Grant Thornton UK LLP                            Tel: +44 (0) 20 7383 5100

                                                    (Nominated Adviser)
 James Bavister / Andrew de Andrade                 WH Ireland Limited                               Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 1666

                                                    (Broker)

 Tim Thompson / Mark Edwards / Fergus Mellon        Flagstaff Strategic and Investor Communications  Tel: +44 (0) 207 129 1474

                                                                                                     goldplat@flagstaffcomms.com

 

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.

 

Table 1

Mineral Resource Estimate of the TSF, South Africa

 Total Resource
 Domain          Class      Tonnes (Mil)  Density  Au (g/t)  Au (Oz)  U(3)O(8) (g/t)   U(3)O(8) (lbs)   Ag (g/t)  Ag (Oz)
 TOTAL RESOURCE  Measured   0.87          1.32     1.82      50,907   61.41            117,754          4.85      135,573
                 Indicated  0.49          1.37     1.77      27,897   59.73            64,506           4.71      74,165
                 Inferred   0.07          1.30     1.4       3,154    71.40            11,016           2.82      6,356
 Grand Total                1.43          1.34     1.78      81,959   61.32            193,276          4.70      216,094

 

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.

 

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