JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Goldplat recorded an operating loss of £711 000 for the year ended June 30, owing to an “extremely challenging year for the gold mining industry”, paired with Rand Refinery’s inability to process its concentrates.
 
However, the company said it had returned to profitability in the second half of the year, following a first-half operating loss of £826 000.

“Management has continued to take action to reduce costs, improve efficiency and enable us to eliminate reliance on third-party processing . . . with improved performance in future,” Goldplat chairperson Brian Moritz said in a statement.

To combat the falling gold price, the company instituted many cost saving initiatives, including improving the use of cyanide – the biggest element of its cost – and increasing elution capacity to produce bullion from concentrates previously processed externally.

To achieve the maximum reduction in cyanide costs, Goldplat changed from solid to liquid cyanide, which, in turn, required the construction of a new liquid cyanide plant. That was completed, with first delivery of liquid cyanide made this month.

The company achieved increased elution capacity in South Africa, improving the use of its existing plant in Benoni through the installation of a new electric boiler, with a further increase in capacity planned once the first 4 t elution plant, which was acquired during the year, was installed and commissioned in October.

“This will enable us to process material which we have had to stockpile over a long period, and is expected to lead to a rapid improvement in cash flow.

“It is worth emphasising that the new plant and many other new and improved items of processing plant have been financed from internal resources, without recourse to new equity capital and without taking up loan or debt finance,” Moritz added.

Production for the full year reached 30 524 oz, while gold sales amounted to 24 904 oz. Gold sold for own account was 21 181 oz and that transferred to clients was 3 723 oz. The 5 621 oz difference between the gold produced and gold sold was locked up in concentrate stocks – an indication of the build-up during the year.

“We have made significant progress in identifying alternative refiners and processors, completed or made progress on essential capital projects across our portfolio, all funded internally and have implemented numerous cost-cutting and efficiency initiatives which have improved the operational and financial flexibility of the company,” CEO Gerard Kisbey-Green said.

He added that, following the implementation of these measures, the company would be able to process all of the backlog material by December and significantly reduce the single refiner risk that affected Goldplat’s operational and financial performance during the financial year under review.