Aim-listed gold producer Goldplat has posted solid profits from its South African and Ghanaian operations of £1.1-million and £280 000, respectively, for the quarter ended September 30.

This compares with the £1-million profit posted by the South African operations and the £23 000 profit posted by the Ghanaian recovery in the quarter ended September 30, 2019.

The company attributed the improved production levels in Ghana to a constant flow of material received from clients in Ghana, Mali and South Africa, while Goldplat is working on securing more material from Mali.

During the quarter under review, Goldplat signed a binding conditional term sheet with Mayflower Capital Investments for the sale of its lossmaking Kilimapesa project, in Kenya.

The transaction should be completed before the end of the year and Goldplat does not foresee spending any more cash on the operation before the sale concludes.

Meanwhile, initial results from the company’s pilot plant test on tailings storage facility (TSF) materials at its gold recovery site in South Africa have been encouraging.

The company is nearing the finalisation of a detailed plan for the processing of TSF materials.

The company continued improving its largest carbon-in-leach circuit to enable the processing of lower-grade contaminated material.

The company installed an upgraded screening unit, which led to sacrificing 3 kg of gold production during the installation in the quarter under review.

The processing of the TSF materials at the required scale still remains dependent on securing a final deposition site and a plant.

Management believe that processing the TSF materials through an existing third-party facility should create the most value for shareholders and reduce the initial capital requirement.

Goldplat says its application to extend its current TSF for deposition of current production is progressing and expects feedback from the relevant authorities by January next year.

The company will spend a further £90 000 on managing the current facility until a larger facility can be built at a cost of £700 000.