JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Diversified mining company Pallinghurst on Monday reported a net half-year profit of $3-million in tough market conditions.

Pallinghurst CE Arne Frandsen commented in a Johannesburg Stock Exchange News Service announcement that the profit highlighted the merit of holding three separate investment platforms in platinum, steel feed materials and coloured gemstones.

Sedibelo Platinum Mine dispatched a 15%-higher 82 500 oz of platinum group metals (PGMs) from its operations in South Africa’s North West province and Tshipi Borwa was profitable for the second year in a row on the export of more than two-million tonnes of manganese ore from the Northern Cape.

Coloured gemstone company Gemfields generated record auction revenues of $154-million in the 12 months to June 30 and has firmed up a probable ore reserve of 432-million carats of ruby and corundum in Mozambique.

The environmentally friendly Kell technology, which cuts electricity use and increases not only the recoveries of PGMs but also copper, cobalt and nickel, is continuing to be trialled in a pilot plant with encouraging results.

While Tshipi is on track to export two-million tonnes of manganese in the financial year to February 28, low iron-ore prices have forced the closure of Jupiter Mines’ Mount Ida magnetite and Mount Mason hematite projects in the Central Yilgarn region of Western Australia.

Increased production at the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia and the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique had helped to increase the Gemfields share price, which had risen 30% in the first half of the calendar year.

Nineteen auctions of Kagem emerald and beryl had generated revenues of $360-million and the four auctions of Montepuez ruby and corundum had generated revenues of $122-million.

Montepuez’s probable reserves indicate a post-tax net present value of $1-billion and an internal rate of return of 312%.

Sales orders agreed for Gemfields’ luxury Fabergé products rose 31% in the financial year with Fabergé potentially adding its luxury positioning to sapphires and other coloured gemstones that the company might offer in the future.

The share price of Pallinghurst on Monday fell 1.41% to 420c a share.