Sylvania (AIM: SLP) is pleased to announce the results for the quarter ended 30 September 2020 ('Q1' or the 'quarter').

Unless otherwise stated, the consolidated financial information contained in this report is presented in United States Dollars ('USD').

Achievements

Sylvania Dump Operations ('SDO') declared 17,972 4E PGM ounces in Q1 (Q4 FY2020: 9,055 ounces; Q1 FY2020: 20,797 ounces); The SDO recorded $41.5 million net revenue for the quarter (Q4 FY2020: $13.2 million; Q1 FY2020: $31.2 million); Group cash costs per 4E PGM ounce decreased to ZAR11,021/ounce and $652/ounce quarter-on-quarter (Q4 FY2020: ZAR17,636/ounce and $983/ounce; Q1 FY2020: ZAR8,420/ounce and $573/ounce); EBITDA of $29.7 million (Q4 FY2020: $4.2 million; Q1 FY2020: $19.2 million); Net profit of $21.0 million (Q4 FY2020: $2.2 million; Q1 FY2020: $12.5 million) due to the increased production in the quarter; Cash balance of $60.9 million (Q4 FY2020: $55.9 million; Q1 FY2020: $26.6 million).

Challenges

The global COVID-19 pandemic remains an area of concern and management continue to sustain the various implemented measures to ensure both the health and safety of all employees and to limit any impact on production. Although the country remains in Level-1 Lockdown which does not hinder production, a resurgence of COVID-19 and subsequent return to previous levels of Lockdown could potentially affect operations and Reduced mining operations at some host mines due to the depressed chrome market continues to result in lower volumes of run of mine ('RoM') and current arisings material resulting in lower PGM feed grades and recoveries as outlined in earlier announcements.

Commenting on the Q1 results, Sylvania's CEO, Jaco Prinsloo said: 'After a steady return to full capacity production following the outbreak of COVID-19 and the Government imposed industry shutdown, I am pleased to report that the SDO produced 17,972 ounces for the quarter a solid performance given the challenges we faced during the period. Whilst all the plants are now running at full capacity after the ramp-up of operations post lockdown and plant efficiencies have normalised, the reduced mining operations of certain host mines continued to impact on feed grades as expected and consequently Q1's PGM production decreased approximately 14% on the corresponding quarter of FY2020.

Our management and technical teams continue to explore further opportunities to increase both feed grades and recovery efficiencies across operations that could add value in the near term and also continue to engage with various consultants to evaluate the potential of the longer-term mineral asset projects.

With a solid Q1 performance behind us and operational conditions improving towards normal levels following the impacts associated with COVID-19, our management teams are now able to increase the focus on optimising efficiencies with the resource suite we currently have and will continue to deliver strong operational performances going forward. We anticipate to reach our estimated production target of approximately 70,000 ounces of PGM's for the year.

The Company continues to enjoy the benefits of the strong PGM price environment and the 31% increase in gross basket price from Q4 has assisted in boosting our financial performance and cash reserves. The Company remains in a robust financial position with sufficient cash reserves to fund capital projects which will help mitigate any rise in costs and the possible reduction in future cash inflows due to the ongoing uncertainty relating to COVID-19.'

Contact:

Jaco Prinsloo

Tel: +27 11 673 1171

This announcement is released by Sylvania Platinum Limited and contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) 596/2014 ('MAR'), and is disclosed in accordance with the Company's obligations under Article 17 of MAR.

For the purposes of MAR and Article 2 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2016/1055, this announcement is being made on behalf of the Company by Jaco Prinsloo.

(C) 2020 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire