Ironveld reports progress on various fronts

Ironveld updated the market on the acquisition of Ferrochrome Furnaces (FCF) on Friday, as well as the refurbishment and start-up of the smelters, and on the project overall.

The AIM-traded firm said closing of the acquisition of FCF remained subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, which it said were “progressing well”, and related to finalising particular documentation.

Its board said it was “confident” that the transaction would complete shortly, and that there was no impediment to planned operations.

Excellent progress was meanwhile being made on the refurbishment and start-up of the Rustenburg smelter, Ironveld reported.

As it announced on 17 October, first production was expected in the first quarter of 2023, but on Friday it said that the first of the smelter's three planned operational furnaces was expected to be in operation in “the coming weeks”, significantly ahead of the original schedule.

“First sales of material from the smelter are now expected early in 2023, and the second and third operational furnaces are anticipated to both be in production by April,” the board said in its statement.

Finally, the company said site establishment and preparatory groundworks within the Lapon licence area were now “substantially complete”, with the mine set to be delivering ore to the smelter as planned later in December.

“Power for both the mining and smelting operations is entirely off-grid, and therefore not subject to the significant ESKOM ‘load shedding’ interruptions currently being experienced across South Africa.”

At 1328 GMT, shares in Ironveld were up 3.27% at 0.31p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.