JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Despite operations being impacted by safety stoppages at its host mines, Aim-listed Sylvania Platinum managed to keep production from its dump operations fairly unchanged at 10 583 oz of platinum-group metals (PGM) and achieve a 5% increase in revenue from $10.1-million to $10.7-million during the third quarter ended March 31.

Capital expenditure (capex) was reduced to $500 000 in the quarter, in line with the company's capexprogramme, while the group’s bank balance was $6.6-million.

During the period under review, most of the payments for the company’s Tweefontein plant, near Steelpoort, which was successfully started up in the previous quarter, had been made. The plant's production was ramped up to 1 427 oz for the quarter and resulted in profit before tax of $167 000. This compared favourably against the 937 oz produced in the previous quarter.

Another project completed during the quarter was the purchase of the Grasvally and Zoetveld farms, a critical part of the Volspruit project, in Limpopo.

Sylvania indicated that this enabled it to focus on cash generation and improving operations at its seven dump operation plants.

The Millsell operation, in the North West province, produced 1 621 oz during the quarter, up from 1 220 oz in the previous quarter. Collectively know as the Western Operations, Millsell and the two Mooinooi plants, also in the North West province, jointly lost about 900 oz of production, owing to operational stoppages, following a fatality and the subsequent slow resumption of feed to the plants.

At the Steelpoort plant, on the Mpumalanga/Limpopo provincial border, lower grades and lower recovery potential of the second-pass material fed into the plant during the quarter resulted in production amounting to 1 816 oz, down 234 oz on the 2 050 oz produced in the previous quarter.

Also in Mpumalanga, the Lannex operation produced 1 598 oz for the quarter, down from the previous quarter's 1 948 oz. This was as a result of lower-than-planned feed tons owing to a major five-day shutdown to upgrade one of the mill drives and about eight days for safety stoppages during the quarter.

Production at the Doornbosch operation, in Limpopo, also decreased to 2 358 oz during the quarter, compared with 2 867 oz in the previous quarter.  The lower ounces were attributable to the higher grade Montrose dump being depleted during the early part of the quarter.

Further, Sylvania indicated that its chromite tailings retreatment plant operation, on the western limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, remained on care and maintenance. The company indicated that discussions were under way to secure the mineral rights to other PGM bearing dumps in the area, the outcome of which would inform the plant's future.

EXPLORATION AND OPENCAST

Meanwhile, the mining right application for PGM's on the Harriett's Wish farm, in Limpopo, was submitted to the Department of Mineral Resources by Sylvania’s subsidiary Hacra Mining and Exploration Company on April 19.

Sylvania indicated that all exploration on the northern limb had been scaled back with the exception of the environmental studies and the environmental-impact assessment being carried out.