JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Indicative of what Sylvania Platinum believes is the stability of its Sylvania Dump Operations (SDO), located on the western limb of the Bushveld Complex, the mines produced 31 341 oz of platinum-group metals (PGMs) in the six months to December 31 – a 24% increase on the 25 189 oz produced in the six months to December 2013.
The group outlined on Monday that the higher PGM production was boosted by higher plant feed grades at the Doornbosch and Tweefontein operations owing to the type of material treated during the period, as well as stable plant performance on most operations.
“Both the new PGM concentrate offtake agreement terms and conversion to hydromining across the operations, which were concluded during the reporting period, will assist to reduce operating costs and improve profitability of the operations going forward.
“Continuous technical and production focus, as well as ongoing operational improvement initiatives across all operations over the first portion of the financial year have contributed to an improved and more stable production environment,” the company noted in a results statement.
The operation’s cash costs narrowed 17% to $573/oz, assisted by the higher PGM production during the period.
Revenue increased by 34%, from $20.53-million in the first half of the prior financial year, to $27.48-million in the six months to December 31, while the gross basket price dropped 1%, from $911/oz in the first half of the prior year, to $899/oz in the period under review.
Group cash costs decreased by 18% to $611/oz in six months ended December 31, attributable to cost control improvement, a reduction in ore transport and equipment hire and lower maintenance costs as a result of fewer breakdowns.
The group-adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the reporting period was $8.12-million, while cash and cash equivalents amounted to $7.75-million at the end of December.
EXPLORATION, MINING PROJECTS
The company, meanwhile, continued to await the outcome of the mining right application (MRA) for the Volspruit project, near Mokopane, but would start with public participation on the water use licence application later this month.
This would include a presentation on the findings of the extensive testing conducted during the Nylsvley river flood event witnessed in the previous year, as well as the opinions of the independent peer reviewers on these findings.
“The flood study confirmed the presence of the clay layer and, therefore, the separation of surface and groundwater, which is a positive result for the mine, as the projected drawdown cone, which overlaps the Nylsvley river during mining, will not have a significant impact on the flood itself,” said the group.
Further, Sylvania had obtained permission from the Department of Mineral Resources to remove and dispose of a bulk sample of the minerals recovered during the course of prospecting activities at the Grasvally chrome exploration, in Limpopo.
The Sylvania prospecting team planned to extract a bulk sample from small openpits in three separate areas on the chromite seam outcrop to ascertain metallurgical recovery information, obtaining critical information to complete the MRA.
“Based on the high chrome-to-iron ratios found during the initial exploration phase of the project, the company believes that the testwork to be done will prove that the chromite is of unusually high quality by South African standards,” said the company.
A resource model was, furthermore, being completed over the southern half of the property and the near-surface resource would be classified into indicated and inferred categories.
“Exploration will consist of a drilling programme in the north of the property for a near-surface resource, and additional drilling will be performed to categorise the deeper underground resource,” it stated.
Sylvania, meanwhile, continued to await the outcome of the MRA for the Harriet's Wish, Aurora and Cracouw exploration projects and would keep the market updated with progress reports as appropriate.