JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The turnaround strategy initiated by Aim-listed Goldplat in the 2015 financial year was starting to deliver the “desired outcomes and benefits”, with the company’s primary gold recovery operations now both cash flow positive and profitable.

Reporting on its results for the six months to December 31, Goldplat noted on Monday that it had produced 17 457 oz of gold and sold or transferred 17 875 oz of gold.

“This demonstrates not only increased levels of production, but increased sales and a turnover in stocks,” the gold producer stated.

Goldplat achieved a pretax profit of £395 000 for the six months under review, compared with a pretax loss of £377 000 for the six months to December 31, while its operating profit for the period under review, at £261 000, was a significant improvement on the £827 000 loss recorded in the prior comparable period.

The gold producer had, in the six months to December 31, completed various capital projects that were “critical” to the turnaround of its operations.

The most important of the capital projects was the installation and commissioning of a 4 t elution column and associated equipment at Goldplat Recovery South Africa (GPL) in November 2015, which increased elution throughput from about 1.5 t/d to more than 8 t/d.

This enabled Goldplat to reduce the backlog of stocks that had built up as a result of issues with Rand Refinery.

The gold producer had traditionally sold a substantial proportion of concentrate to Rand Refinery in South Africa, but reported in March 2015 that the refinery had taken the decision not to receive and process concentrates in the six months to December 2014.

Other projects included the installation of a new electric boiler, a new woodchip wash plant, a replacement mill in the low-grade circuit, a new pumping station for the tailings treatment plant, a cyanide storage facility, an on-site weighbridge and a carbon regeneration kiln. 

“All of these projects represent either the necessary replacement of critical infrastructure and equipment, or new installations which make the operations more efficient and allow GPL to retain more of the value chain, which had previously been lost to downstream third parties,” the company pointed out.

At Goldplat Recovery Ghana (GRG), preparations were being made for the installation of an elution column at the site, in Tema, to improve the processing of carbon and produce bullion for export in terms of the company’s licence agreement with the Minerals Commission.

Goldplat viewed GRG as a significant growth opportunity, with ongoing plans to source material for GRG from West Africa and South America.

Meanwhile, Goldplat’s Kilimapesa mine, in Kenya, delivered 932 oz of gold in the six months to December 31, compared with the 1 081 oz produced in the prior comparable period, mainly as a result of the Kenyan authorities having stopped the sourcing of tailings from third parties during the period.

Processing of tailings from within the Kilimapesa lease area had now resumed.

Further, the Teng-Teng mine, which formed part of the Kilimapesa exploration permit, was dewatered and re-equipped during the six months under review, with on-reef exploration under way. 

Designs for a processing plant and tailings facility to be established at Kilimapesa had been completed. A carbon-in-leach plant would be moved from GRG’s premises to Kilimapesa.