JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – An operating profit in the second half of the 2014 financial year has eliminated Aim-listed Goldplat’s first-half operating loss, the gold producer said on Wednesday.

The group, which would release its full-year results on September 22, on Wednesday, said its South African gold recovery plant maintained a robust and profitable operation.

Goldplat Recovery Limited’s (GPL’s) recovery plant, in Benoni, Gauteng, continued to generate revenue and operate profitably, with an average of 338 oz of gold poured every fortnight during the year ended June 30.

Earlier this month, a new fortnightly record production was achieved with the output of 703.6 oz of gold.

Meanwhile, GPL had also doubled the number of clients during the past 12 months, with the recent addition of three mining companies contracting the processing of their by-products to the South African operation.

Goldplat had also inked an agreement to process precious metals from a refinery that served the jewellery industry.

“During the second and third quarters of 2014, the company [also] signed an agreement and commenced the clean-up of two liquidated mining operations that gives GPL access to higher-grade surface material that will increase the production output in the various carbon-in-leach (CIL) sections of the operation,” the gold producer added.

Further, testwork by a South African University showed encouraging results for a potential new process to retreat GPL’s current tailings.

Meanwhile, Gold Recovery Ghana (GRG) had continued to generate revenues for Goldplat during the year under review until the receipt of a July-dated enforcement notice issued by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Shortly after the close of the financial year-end in June, the operations at Tema had been halted after the identification of “certain operational and environmental” breaches of GRG’s permit conditions.

A subsequent enforcement notice, in August, stipulated the company cease operations at the CIL treatment section, which had been reprocessing the on-site tailings, while enabling operations at the spiral and incinerator sections to continue as normal.

GRG was also fined around £12 000.

“It is not intended that GRG will seek to recommence [the] CIL operations,” Goldplat said, adding that a new site would need to be found for an engineered tailings facility and the CIL section so that GRG could restart the processing of tailings.

GRG was also required to submit a new environmental management plan, which needed to include a strategy to decommission the tailings facility on site, water treatment options and the identification of third parties with engineered storage facilities to process the current tailings on site, to the EPA within two months.

Meanwhile, GRG remained confident of securing a permit in the near term to allow the toll-treatment to continue to operate at its standard capacity.

An agreement with Endeavour Resources to buy tailings from artisanal and small-scale miners had been halted earlier this year after the EPA changed the application of regulation on toll-treatment at third-party processors.

Meanwhile, Goldplat aimed to reverse the negative impact the lossmaking Kilimapesa gold mining operation, in Kenya, and had, in July, implemented plant improvements at a minimal cost to increase recovery and gold production.

“Indications are that the increased gold production will enable the mine to operate near break even despite the current plant design limitations,” the company said.

Goldplat continued to progress discussions with joint venture partners to advance the development of Kilimapesa.