JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Aim-listed Goldplat has continued to improve its profitability during the six months to December 31, with pre-tax profit up 238% year-on-year to £1.33-million.

“At the operating level the profit was £1.01-million. Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period stood at £885 000,” chairperson Mathew Robinson said in a statement on Monday.

Goldplat produced 21 317 oz of gold and gold equivalents for the six months under review, while gold and gold equivalents sold and transferred reached 16 653 oz.

Goldplat Recovery, in South Africa, produced 12 539 oz of gold and gold equivalents, an improvement on the 11 831 oz produced in the six months to December 31, 2015.

The company noted on Monday that discussions are continuing regarding the use of an old, disused openpit adjacent to its plant for tailings deposition.

“It is our plan that the pit will be used as a final deposition site for current production and will also enable the reprocessing of the estimated 80 000 oz of gold resource in our stock dams,” it said, adding that final approval was expected this year.

Meanwhile, its Goldplat Recovery Ghana (GRG) operation produced 7 588 oz of gold and gold equivalents in the six months under review.

The operation’s licence was renewed for three years in December 2016, but Goldplat is required to commission its new elution plant by June 2018. Planning for this is in progress.

KILIMAPESA GOLD
Goldplat’s Kilimapesa gold mine, in Kenya, increased production to 1 190 oz of gold and gold equivalents for the six months under review, as a result of improved efficiencies in the existing plant.

The decision was taken during the year to invest in increased processing capacity at Kilimapesa to bring the operations to profitability, including the construction of an additional processing plant, in three stages, and a new tailings facility both in close proximity to the Kilimapesa Hill.