JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Despite record levels of platinum-ounce production and contained unit costs, low-cost platinum group metals (PGMs) processor and developer Sylvania Platinum on Wednesday said capitulating metal prices had battered its earnings in the fourth quarter of the year.

Group earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) plunged 61% quarter-on-quarter to $531 000 for the three months to June 30; however, the full-year Ebitda edged up to $12.5-million, from the $11.9-million recorded in the prior year.

Sylvania attributed the quarterly decline to the 2% drop in the net basket price to $1 032/oz, while the higher ounce production achieved during the period pushed up total costs, reducing the Ebitda in comparison to that achieved in the previous quarter, explained CEO Terry McConnachie.

Further, the significant fall, since March, of platinum and palladium prices had also led to a 5% decrease in revenue from $10.5-million in the quarter ended March 31, to $10-million in the June quarter, despite the higher production volumes.

Full-year revenue reached $47.8-million, a slight rise on the $46.4-million generated in the prior year.

“The basket price of platinum remains a concern for the foreseeable future but we are confident that the Sylvania Dump Operations (SDO) can continue to produce profitably, before tax, if the basket price does not further reduce,” McConnachie noted.

However, the group had a cash balance of $8.4-million as at June 30 – a 5% decrease on the third-quarter balance of $8.8-million, but a 58% surge on the $5.3-million cash balance at the end of the 2014 financial year.

The SDO delivered a 5% quarter-on-quarter improvement in output to 13 468 oz of PGMs, bringing the total for the 2015 financial year to 57 587 oz – a 7% rise on the year before and above the revised upward guidance of 55 000 oz to 57 000 oz for the financial year.