Tshipi again delivers solid full-year shareholder distributions

17th March 2020 By: Marleny Arnoldi - Deputy Editor Online

ASX-listed Jupiter Mines’ subsidiary Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining, which operates the Tshipi Borwa manganese mine in South Africa’s Northern Cape, has declared a shareholder dividend of R265-million for the financial year ended February 29.

Jupiter, as the controlling shareholder, will receive R125-million.

Tshipi ended the year off strong with about R1.1-billion in cash, after tax and royalties. Jupiter says the cash will be retained to help mitigate the prevailing challenging market conditions and to ensure that mine development activities will continue.

It is working on a feasibility study to expand the Tshipi Borwa operation to produce 4.5-million tonnes a year – a 50% increase on the current three-million-tonne-a-year production capacity.

“The [financial] results demonstrate the strength of the Tshipi operations throughout the cycle, owing to its production scale, flexible contracts, low cost and lean overheads and no debt on its balance sheet,” Jupiter points out.

Tshipi has distributed R7.8-billion to its shareholders over the last three years and, in turn, Jupiter has distributed about A$378-million to its shareholders.

Jupiter will make a final dividend declaration for the year under review soon.