27th Apr 2015 08:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Sylvania Platinum Ltd on Monday said its production fell and costs rose quarter on quarter in its third quarter, but said full-year production will now beat its guidance.
For the quarter ended March 31, the miner reported a 19% quarter-on-quarter fall in revenue to USD10.5 million from USD13.0 million, resulting in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization more than halving to USD1.4 million from USD3.2 million.
Revenue fell on the back of lower production. Platinum group metal plant feed production fell 6% quarter on quarter to 252,198 tonnes from 267,094 tonnes, whilst gold and 3E production, which contains platinum, palladium and gold, fell 13% to 12,778 ounces from 14,701.
Cash costs meanwhile rose 4% to USD716 per ounce from USD691 in the previous quarter.
For the first three quarters of the financial year, revenue has reached USD37.9 million with earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of USD11.5 million. Sylvania warned that the fourth and final quarter of the year will continue to be hit by low commodity prices which will affect profitability, it said.
Sylvania said it is likely to beat its production guidance of 53,000 platinum group metal ounces in the full 2015 financial year, and said it will now be in the region of 55,000 to 57,000 ounces. The increased guidance comes after production in the first three quarters of the financial year totalled 44,119 ounces, which is up 15% from a year earlier.
Capital expenditure on the company's main Sylvania dump operations and on evaluation and exploration totalled USD754,000 in the quarter, which was 34% less than the previous quarter. In the first three quarters of the financial year, capital expenditure totalled USD2.3 million.
Sylvania shares rose by 2.3% to 10.10 pence per share on Monday morning.
By Joshua Warner; [email protected]; @JoshAlliance
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