JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Having closed off a successful fourth quarter ended June 30, Aim-listed Goldplat expects its consolidated profit before tax to exceed market expectations for the financial year, the results of which will be announced in September.

The Africa-focused gold producer, which has gold recovery operations in South Africa and Ghana, as well as a gold mine in Kenya, saw a 14% production increase for the year, from 37 666 gold equivalent ounces produced in 2016 to 42 857 gold equivalent ounces produced in 2017.

And while the gold equivalent ounces sold and transferred during 2017 (40 285 oz) were 1.2% less than in 2016 (40 763 oz), the company explains that a high level of gold sold and transferred in 2016 was a result of stock carried over from the previous year, whereas the gold sold in 2017 reflects a build-up of material in Ghana, which will be sold in the first quarter of the new year.

Goldplat’s overall production for the fourth quarter was “relatively high”, totalling 14 790 oz. The company attributed this to the commissioning of the Stage 2 expansion at Kilimapesa gold project, in Kenya which saw Goldplat gain 1 254 oz in production for the quarter.

This was despite the commissioning of Stage 2 of the new plant being delayed, which was “out of the team’s hands”, according to Goldplat CEO Gerard Kisbey-Green.

This was a 41% increase on the previous quarter and a record gold production quarter for the operation. However, notwithstanding the improvement, Kilimapesa’s production was lower than planned owing to lower tonnages and grades mined.

Meanwhile, Goldplat also attributed its positive quarterly production result to the processing of a large one-off batch of carbon from a new client at the group’s Goldplat Recovery site, in South Africa. Most of this production was also sold during the quarter, with the remainder planned for sales in the first quarter of the new year.

Kisbey-Green described this contract as one of the highlights of the quarter.

“Despite this being a one-off contract, it proved our ability to source material from new clients and geographies, manage the logistics and process large amounts of material quickly and profitably. This is an important aspect of overall risk mitigation for Goldplat. I believe that the extensive progress being achieved in the diversification of sourcing of material at all of our operations will stand the company in good stead for the coming financial year,” he said.