CAPE TOWN - JUBILEE Metals Group, the AIM and Altx traded metals processing company, achieved further record growth in the second half of 2020, the company said in an operational update yesterday.
Operational results for the six month to December 31, 2020, showed Jubilee’s platinum group metals (PGM) and chrome operational earnings up by 126 percent to R603.3 million, from the first half of the financial year. Attributable PGM and chrome revenue increased 66 percent to R1 billion, from the first half of 2020.
Jubilee’s Sable Refinery achieved early earnings from its copper and cobalt production as part of securing operational readiness to accept first production from Project Roan, achieving attributable operational earnings of R39m.
Both the chrome and PGM operations delivered record operational performance, the group said. Jubilee’s copper strategy to achieve 25 000 tons of copper units per year gained momentum with the start of construction of Project Roan’s copper concentrator with phase 1 expected to come on line in the first quarter.
Jubilee secured more than 288 million tons of copper tailings with the further addition of about 18 million tons of tailings in December. Jubilee completed the addition of its 35 000 ton-per-month Windsor 8 chrome operation in the second half, where production started in October.
Construction of a 80 000 ton a month chrome operation adjacent to its Inyoni PGM operation had begun and further expansion of its PGM Inyoni operation was approved, which would start in February, targeted for completion in April.
Increased PGM production, including record production at Inyoni during December, was achieved despite planned December operational stoppage by the operation’s JV PGM partner.
Chief executive Leon Coetzer said the past six months had seen both Jubilee’s PGM and chrome operations maturing as well as its copper strategy gaining significant momentum with the start of the construction of the first of a targeted three copper concentrators in Zambia in line with their goal to take a leading role in the processing of surface tailings in the country.
A ramp-up of copper production in Zambia had clear potential to continue to grow Jubilee’s earnings on the back of the commissioning of the copper and cobalt refining circuits and the expected ramp-up of copper production, particularly with the recent rebound, and market expectations, Coetzer said.
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