JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – The Dilokong chrome mine (DCM) tailings project has outperformed its original design and reached stable production during the second quarter of the year, AltX- and Aim-listed Jubilee Platinum reported on Monday.

In an update to shareholders, the mine-to-metals specialist said chromite concentrate production for the three months to June 30, reached 15 188 t, with stable output of 7 480 t achieved in June.

The operation earned revenue of R19.1-million from chromite concentrate sales and project earnings of R14.2-million, of which R8.7-million was attributable to Jubilee, during the period under review.

“The DCM project has outperformed the original design numbers both in terms of revenue, earnings from chromite concentrate sales and better-than-designed operational performance,” CEO Leon Coetzer said.

The potential value of saleable platinum in inventory was R399.1-million at current platinum prices.

Meanwhile, Jubilee was considering toll processing as an alternative to building its own plant and was currently considering offers.

“If an acceptable offer is received, there will be no need to build a plant and platinum revenues will be received much earlier than planned. In the meantime, we continue to increase our revenues from chrome production and source third-party feed input,” he said.

Jubilee was in final discussions with a third-party processor regarding a platinum group metals (PGM) processing option that offered significant project upside.

“If Jubilee concludes to process the platinum material in a third-party-owned plant, all equipment already secured for the DCM platinum processing plant is transferable to the Hernic platinum processing plant,” he added.

The construction of the 55 000 t/m Hernic PGM-bearing chrome tailings processing plant was progressing to schedule, with commissioning expected by December.

Capital expenditure invested on the project to date was around R88.5-million – 45% of the total estimated project capital.