18th Apr 2024 08:11
(Alliance News) - Jubilee Metals Group PLC on Thursday said its South African chrome operations delivered an "exceptional" performance in the first nine months of its financial year, though its platinum output disappointed.
The London-based metal processing company said chrome production rose 7.2% to 408,710 tonnes for the third quarter, which ended March 31, from 381,114 tonnes in the second quarter, despite being the quarter traditionally being known for lower production rates due to the January holiday period.
Jubilee highlighted that it set a record monthly production of 145,102 tonnes of chrome concentrates in March.
For the nine months that ended March 31, chrome concentrate output jumped 19% to reach 1.1 million tonnes, compared to 944,832 tonnes a year earlier.
Jubilee, which has projects in South Africa and Zambia, said construction of a second chrome processing module at its Thutse project, with a design capacity to produce 300,000 tonnes of chrome concentrates per annum, remains on track for completion in August.
Less positively, platinum group metals production dropped 18% to 8,339 ounces quarter-on-quarter from 10,131 ounces, mainly due to a reduction in available stock of lower-grade feed material, Jubilee said.
Nine-month PGM production was 3.6% lower at 28,583 ounces, compared to 29,645 ounces.
Copper production declined 8.4% to 691 tonnes in the third quarter from 749 tonnes in the second, but it surged 69% to 2,374 tonnes in the nine months from 1,409 tonnes a year before.
"With robust operations in South Africa and a solid foundation for growth established in Zambia, Jubilee is well-positioned to deliver a strong Q4 performance, with production increases expected across all commodities," Jubilee Chief Executive Officer Leon Coetzer said.
For the 2024 financial year, chrome and PGM production guidance remains intact. Chrome output guidance is unchanged at 1.45 million tonnes, up from 1.2 million tonnes a year before. PGM output is expected to range between 40,000 ounces and 42,000 ounces, compared to 42,433 ounces.
But Jubilee revised down its copper production guidance to between 3,250 and 4,000 tonnes, from 5,850 predicted previously. For 2023, copper production was 2,923 tonnes.
Jubilee shares opened down 8.7% at 6.70 pence in London on Thursday.
By Artwell Dlamini, Alliance News reporter
Comments and questions to [email protected]
Copyright 2024 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.