Sylvania Platinum quarterly production in line with forecasts

Sylvania Platinum said in an update on Friday that its SDO dump operations achieved 15,840 4E platinum group metals (PGE) ounces in the third quarter, down from 16,605 ounces in the second quarter.

The AIM-traded firm said SDO recorded $47.9m of net revenue for the three months ended 31 March, up from $38.8m quarter-on-quarter, enhanced by strong PGM basket prices.

Group EBITDA rose to $30m from $22.3m, and net profit advanced to $21.2m from $15.5m.

Sylvania said it had cash balances of $138m at period end, compared to $110.1m at the end of the second quarter.

Operationally, Sylvania said the Lesedi plant had been “fully operational” since March, following earlier tailings and water-related disruptions.

Looking ahead, the company said the new Lesedi tailings storage facility was complete, with commissioning of the tailings deposition facility having started in February.

Cold commissioning of the new Lesedi MF2 project began in March, and circuit optimisation was currently in progress, with the first slurry treated after the period ended.

Tweefontein MF2, meanwhile, remained on track for commissioning during the first half of the 2023 financial year.

Sylvania said production was expected to increase “significantly” during the next quarter, due to progress at Lesedi and the improvements identified at Mooinooi after the quarter ended.

The group said it was maintaining “strong” cash reserves to allow funding of capital expansion and process optimisation projects, upgrading the group's exploration and evaluation assets, and returning value to all stakeholders.

“The SDO achieved 15,840 ounces for the quarter, in line with expectations taking into account the production downtime and instability experienced at Lesedi during the first part of the quarter due to the temporary suspension of operations,” said chief executive officer Jaco Prinsloo.

“Low-grade run-of-mine resources at our Mooinooi operation continue to be addressed with the host mine, with measures identified to increase the grade post quarter end.

“From a financial perspective, we benefited from a significantly-stronger platinum group metals basket price during the quarter, with net revenue increasing 24% and net profit increasing 36%.”

Prinsloo said SDO cash costs per ounce increased, primarily due to the drop in ounces produced for the quarter, as well as being impacted by higher reagent costs.

SDO cash costs were expected to improve during the fourth quarter, the CEO added, based on higher projected ounce production.

“I am expecting a strong operational performance from all operations during the final quarter of the 2022 financial year, based on initial positive results at Mooinooi to improve run-of-mine feed grades in collaboration with our host mine, and at Lesedi, where production is expected to increase significantly during the next quarter as feed is stabilised and the MF2 circuit optimised.

“This should enable us to achieve the target production of 66,000 to 68,000 ounces for 2022, as communicated earlier.”

At 1029 BST, shares in Sylvania Platinum were up 4.66% at 94.3p.