JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Jupiter Mines, which owns a 49.9% interest in Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining, will list on the ASX on Wednesday, with the company’s board and management to ring the ASX bell in Sydney to formally start trading.
Tshipi, which is based in South Africa’s Northern Cape, achieved a net profit after tax of R1.90-billion for the financial year ended February 28, compared with R891-million in the 2017 financial year.
The mine produced 3.34-million tonnes of saleable manganese in the year under review, compared with 2.27-million tonnes of saleable manganese in the prior year.
“The Tshipi operating and sales strategy for the 2019 financial year is broadly similar to that of the 2018 financial year. The results for the 2018 financial year, when manganese prices averaged around $4.74/t of manganese, demonstrate the cash generation potential of Tshipi,” said Jupiter CEO Priyank Thapliyal.
He added that with current prices at $7.23/t of manganese, significantly higher cash flow is being generated.
Product has been sold through to April, which will result in cash in the bank for Tshipi of about R1.5-billion at the end of May.
Should the markets hold, this raises the prospect of a substantial financial half-year 2019 distribution to Tshipi shareholders and, in turn, to Jupiter’s shareholders under the company’s dividend policy.