Aim-listed gold producer Goldplat marginally improved its operating profit for the six months ended December 31, 2020, to £2.6-million, up from £2.57-million for the six months ended December 31, 2019.

The miner’s South African operation achieved an operating profit of £2.1-million, while its Ghana operation increased operating profitability more than five-fold, from £151 000 in the prior comparable period, to £849 000 in the period under review.

Fully diluted earnings a share for the period from continuing operations increased to 1.45p, up from the 0.63p in the period prior. This was as a result of the improved performance in Ghana and increasing net profit from continuing operations attributable to owners of the company at £1.25-million.

Revenues in South Africa decreased by 13% year-on-year to £8.24-million.

Goldplat states that, in its pursuit of ensuring profitability of production lines – from material available in the market, on a sustainable basis – it has invested substantial time and resources in gathering data to enhance the production lines and is investigating the best processing routes to obtain maximum recovery during reprocessing of the gold contained in its tailings storage facility (TSF).

This expenditure contributed to higher operating costs, but the miner says research should inform its future decision-making.

The total capital expenditure during the period in South Africa amounted to £394 000 focussed on the enhancement of the largest milling and carbon-in-leach circuit by adding additional equipment, and the installation of a pilot plant to bulk test material from the TSF.

It also included further extension of the deposition area on the current TSF.

Goldplat’s normal operating costs increased, specifically as a result of electricity price increases, as well as more water being used from Rand Water and rental of materials handling machinery. This was also in addition to higher security and engineering costs.

Further electricity increases are expected, but Goldplat states that it has measures in place to mitigate and reduce other costs.

In Ghana, Goldplat says it experienced a good supply from its regular clients during the period which was supported with supply from a new client in South America, driving a 92% increase in revenue year-on-year to £4.35-million.

The miner’s marketing efforts in Mali, Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire to secure additional sources of supply are continuing, with engagements at mine and government level. In this vein, Goldplat says it has received a low-grade trial batch from another mine in Mali for evaluation purposes and initial results have been “encouraging”.

As such, the miner says that, by achieving a larger geographical spread with more clients, its objective is to have a steady supply to its plant in Tema from current production rather than ad hoc supplies from stockpiles.

Further, Goldplat is encouraged with the progress made over the past month on the sale of the Kilimapesa project in Kenya, to Mayflower.

The formal legal documentation has been signed and the transaction has been approved by a majority of Papillon shareholders. As such, Papillon creditors deeds have been executed and Goldplat is in a position to complete the transaction by March 31.

Goldplat chairperson Matthew Robinson says progress also includes simplifying the group structure to reduce group costs and ensure more of the strong operational performance may flow to the company’s shareholders.