Goldplat plc / Ticker: GDP / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining & Exploration

15 August 2023

Goldplat plc

('Goldplat' or the 'Company')

4^th Quarter Operating Results update for period ended 30 June 2023

Goldplat Plc, (AIM:GDP) the AIM listed Mining Services Group, with international gold recovery operations located in South Africa and Ghana, servicing the African and South American Mining Industry, is pleased to announce an operational update for the 4^th quarter ended 30 June 2023 ("Q4"), of the financial year just ended.

The South African operational results for the period continued to be impacted by electricity cuts and infrastructure related issues. In addition, the Ghana operation could not capitalise on its continued strong production profile as it could only start exporting material produced during Q3 and Q4 towards the end of Q4, resulting in minimal sales during the quarter.

As a result the two recovery operations achieved combined operating profit for the quarter of £1,188,000 (excluding listing and head office costs, interest and foreign exchange losses), comprising operating performances in South Africa of £750,000 (Q4 2022 - £1,237,000) and in Ghana of £438,000 (Q4 2022 - £1,810,000, which included gains as a result of movements in the GHS against the USD of circa £1 million, with exchange losses of circa £1 million recorded below the line). 

Despite the reduced operating performance in Q4, the operating entities delivered a strong combined operating profit performance for the year of £6,028,000 (FY 2022 - £9,070,000) and the Company expects net profit before tax to exceed market expectations for the 2023 financial year.

The following events have contributed to the reduced Q4 operating results:

Gold Recovery Ghana

·      Although the license was approved by Minerals Commission of Ghana and signed by regulated authorities during Q4, it did not provide sufficient time to sell and realise margins locked up in inventory at the end of the year. During the period supply from clients and production remained strong and we expect a higher than usual sales volume during Q1 of the 2024 financial year. 

·      The supply of material from South America and Ghana has remained steady and we continue to have positive engagements with clients in South America and West Africa.

Goldplat Recovery (Pty) Ltd

·      The South African operation lost a total of 23 operating days, 25% of the total days available in the quarter, due to electricity cuts and infrastructure related issues during Q4. Due to the increased uncertainty of supply in the medium term and as announced on 31 May 2023, we have made a decision to invest in diesel generators which will be able to sustain operations in South Africa during electricity cuts. We expect the diesel generators to be operational by the end of October 2023.  

·      The construction of the new tailings storage facility ('TSF') was completed during the first week of August and commissioning has started. It is expected that the commissioning of the new TSF will take 9 months during which period tailings will be deposited between the new and old tailings facility.

·      With the new TSF commissioned we can turn our focus to the processing of our old TSF which has a JORC Resource of 81,959 ounces (Table 1) at a DRD Gold process facility. The processing of our old TSF remains dependent on the approval of the water use license over certain areas for the installation of a pipeline to the DRD Gold process facility and finalising commercial agreements with DRD Gold in this regard.

·      We estimate that we will require a further £1,150,000 excluding investment of £750,000 to be spent on generators the next 18 months to be spent on repairing and maintaining current operations, on completing the TSF and improving the environmental impacts of our current operations.

We continue to assess the economic and environmental feasibility of the fine coal recovery technology company we invested in, which is in line with our strategy to diversify our recovery operations into other commodities.

Our cash balances in the group remained strong at £2,800,000 at the end of Q4, with significant balances invested in inventory and debtors with our main exposure to smelters in Europe and South Africa. This was driven by delays experienced in settlement from one of the smelters and we only started receiving settlements on long outstanding batches of material delivered, towards the end of Q4 and into Q1 of 2024, as well as the delay in receiving our gold license in Ghana. As a result, we expect interest on pre-financing of material to be higher than usual.   

Werner Klingenberg, CEO of Goldplat commented: "The completion of the new TSF in South Africa is a big milestone for the group from a business continuity perspective, but it also opens up opportunities for the processing of the old TSF and other potential projects. I am pleased with the operating results achieved by the group during Q4 and the for the year as a whole, considering some of the difficult circumstances we faced, and we look forward particularly to improved operating results in Ghana during Q1 of the 2024 financial year."

For further information visit www.goldplat.com, follow on Twitter @GoldPlatGDP or contact:

Table 1

Mineral Resource Estimate of the TSF, South Africa

The Tailings Mineral Resource Estimate was announced in accordance with the JORC Code (2012) in a press release on 29 January 2016. Mark Austin of Applied Geology & Mining (Pty) Ltd was the Competent Person responsible for that announcement. The Company confirms that all material assumptions and technical parameters underpinning the Resource Estimate continue to apply and have not materially changed.

The information contained within this announcement is deemed to constitute inside information as stipulated under the retained EU law version of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No. 596/2014 (the "UK MAR") which is part of UK law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018. The information is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of the UK MAR. Upon the publication of this announcement, this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.