(Alliance News) - Goldplat PLC on Wednesday said its Ghana operations delivered an "exceptional" second quarter, although it continues to be hindered by delays in South Africa.
The London-based gold miner and producer has recovery operations in Ghana and South Africa, and serves clients in Africa and South America.
Goldplat said the combined operating profit of both its Ghana and South Africa operations was GBP1.5 million in the second quarter to December 31, up 8.9% from GBP1.4 million the prior year.
For the half year to December 31, operating profit increased 20% to GBP3.4 million from GBP2.8 million.
This was mainly driven by Goldplat's "exceptional" results in Ghana, where quarterly operating profit surged 77% to GBP1.8 million from GBP1.0 million the prior year.
Goldplat said its Ghana operations benefitted from strong supplies of material, and from sales of inventory that had built up while it waited for its export licence to be finalised.
In South Africa, however, Goldplat swung to a GBP315,000 operating loss following the prior year's GBP356,000 operating profit.
Goldplat said the South African operation was hit hard by electricity cuts, losing 7% of the total operating days available in the quarter. This was an improvement on the roughly 23% lost in the previous three quarters, but Goldplat said there is no guarantee that cuts will not return to those levels.
Goldplat further announced that during January, it discovered that shipping of diesel generators it ordered in May, to enable operations to continue during the power cuts, had been delayed. Consequently, installation will not be completed until the fourth quarter of the year to June 30.
The company also continues to await approval of its water use licence over certain areas for the installation of a pipeline to the DRD Gold processing facility.
Chief Executive Officer Werner Klingenberg said the period was "bitter-sweet", but added: "I'm confident that the team has implemented the necessary controls to eliminate [the South Africa] losses going forward."
He continued: "The requirements and approval of the water use licence...remain a major focus for the Group, whilst we continue to strengthen our relationships, increase market share in a declining gold market in South Africa and leverage our strength and capabilities through partnership into other precious metals and commodities."
Shares in Goldplat rose 3.3% to 6.25 pence in London on Wednesday.
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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