Aim-listed gold producer Goldplat on Monday announced the appointment of a new CEO and reported a loss from operating activities of £501 000 for the financial year ended June 30.

This compares with a profit of £2.51-million in the 2018 financial year.

While Goldplat’s recovery operations delivered a profit before tax of £1.5-million for the six months to June 30, its mining and exploration activities produced a loss before tax of £1.9-million.

As a result, the Kilimapesa mine, in Kenya, had been put on care and maintenance, with limited processing being undertaken. Its operating losses have, therefore, been stemmed, the producer said.

The group had a net cash position of £1.8-million at period-end.

The South African recovery business Goldplat Recovery (GPL) recorded a decrease in revenue to £17.3-million and in operating profit to £2.6-million.

Nevertheless, it achieved a net profit of £1.9-million, with Goldplat adding that “good progress” had been made in reducing processing costs and on the design of the plant to facilitate the profitable processing of low-grade contaminated material in future.

GPL's tailings storage facility (TSF) is reaching full capacity and GPL has two options available for future deposition, which affords the company an opportunity to monetise its current tailings.

At Gold Recovery Ghana (GRG), revenues also decreased to £4.4-million and it swung to an operating loss of £536 000.

Goldplat said significant work had gone into opening up the markets in West Africa, especially Burkina Faso, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire, and the first batch of material from Mali had been received towards the end of the financial year.

Additionally, a successful plant clean-up for a South American producer was performed during the year and was still continuing.

Meanwhile, Goldplat is seeking an investment partner for the Kilimapesa mine to enable the group to realise value from the operation without having to invest additional capital, it said on Monday.

Additionally, a positive development has been that the Kenya Revenue Authority has started refunding some of the company's value-added tax claims, which had remained unpaid since the time of incorporation, after the financial year-end.

Goldplat on Monday also announced the appointment of Werner Klingenberg as CEO on a permanent basis.

He succeeds Gerard Kisbey-Green, who stepped down as CEO but will continue to provide services to the company as required to ensure a smooth managerial transition.

The fulfilment of the role of CFO, currently held by Klingenberg, is under consideration.