Eastern Platinum Limited Reports Results for the Second Quarter of 2022
Eastern Platinum Limited Reports Results for
the Second Quarter of 2022
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - August 15, 2022) - Eastern Platinum Limited (TSX: ELR)
(JSE: EPS) ("
Eastplats
" or the "
Company
") is pleased to report that it has filed its condensed interim
consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and the
corresponding management's discussion and analysis. Below is a summary of the Company's financial
results for the second quarter of 2022 ("
Q2 2022
") and for the six months ended June 30, 2022 ("
YTD
2022
") (all amounts in USD unless specified) in comparison to the same respective period in 2021 ("
Q2
2021
" and "
YTD 2021
", respectively):
Revenue for Q2 2022 increased to $20.5 million (Q2 2021 - $20.0 million), representing a 2.5%
increase. Revenue for YTD 2022 increased to $37.9 million (YTD 2021 - $36.7 million),
representing a 3.4% increase.
Mine operating income increased by $0.9 million (or 25.2%) to $4.2 million in Q2 2022 (Q2 2021 -
$3.3 million), resulting in an improved gross margin of 20.3% in Q2 2022 from 16.6% in Q2 2021.
Mine operating income in YTD 2022 increased by $2.8 million (or 59.1%) to $7.6 million (YTD
2021 - $4.8 million), resulting in an improved gross margin of 19.9% in YTD 2022 from 13.0% in
YTD 2021.
Operating income was $0.9 million in Q2 2022 compared to $0.7 million in Q2 2021. Operating
income improved by $2.0 million to $1.0 million in YTD 2022 from an operating loss of $1.0 million
in YTD 2021.
Net income attributable to equity shareholders was $1.2 million ($0.01 earnings per share) in Q2
2022 versus net income attributable to equity shareholders of $4.1 million ($0.03 earnings per
share) in Q2 2021. The Q2 2022 net income was largely attributable to income tax recoveries in
the quarter, while in Q2 2021, the Company received legal settlement income of $3.3 million to
settle and dismiss certain outstanding lawsuits.
Net income attributable to equity shareholders increased to $4.2 million ($0.03 earnings per share)
in YTD 2022 compared to net income attributable to equity shareholders of $3.3 million ($0.02
earnings per share) in YTD 2021. The improvement during YTD 2022 is mainly attributable to the
increased revenue and positive gross margins generated by remining and processing the
Company's tailings resources at the Crocodile River Mine ("
CRM
") to produce chrome
concentrate and platinum group metals ("
PGM
") concentrate, respectively, and income tax
recoveries as mentioned above in Q2 2022. Also mentioned above, the Company received legal
settlement income of $3.3 million in YTD 2021, which did not occur in YTD 2022.
The Company had positive working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $16.1 million
as at June 30, 2022 (December 31, 2021 - $14.6 million) and short-term cash resources of $6.4
million (consisting of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments) (December 31, 2021 -
$6.1 million).
Operations
The Company continues its Retreatment Project at Barplats Mines (Pty) Limited's tailings facility (the
"
Retreatment Project
") located at the CRM in South Africa.
Summary of chrome production for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021:
Q2 2022
Q2 2021
YTD 2022
YTD 2021
Total Tailings Feed (Tons)
664,721
660,566
1,238,973
1,268,172
Average grade Cr concentrate
38.7%
38.5%
38.8%
38.5%
Tons of Cr concentrate
169,839
223,487
290,961
427,389
The majority of the Company's revenue (approximately 84% for Q2 2022) is generated from the offtake
agreement with Union Goal Offshore Solution Limited ("
Union Goal
") in relation to chrome concentrate
production from the Retreatment Project. The remaining amount of the Company's revenue was from
PGM concentrate sales to Impala Platinum Limited ("
Impala
").
The Company is currently owed approximately $17.0 million from Union Goal in accounts receivable
from processing and dispatching chrome concentrate in addition to $6.0 million for chrome concentrate
not yet invoiced as of the date of this news release. Payments against the outstanding receivable from
Union Goal have been slow despite repeated requests for a payment plan. Management is in the
process of evaluating and communicating with Union Goal to determine an agreeable outcome. A
default on the receivable or lack of payment from Union Goal could have a significant impact not only on
the instrument credit risk adjustments recorded to date but on the Company's liquidity as a whole.
Further delays in payment may require the Company to re-evaluate the fair value of the contract payable,
re-evaluate the value of the contracts to the parties, and could lead to a renegotiation/change of the
Union Goal contracts, including target completion dates for the optimization program. The Company still
expects to receive all monies owed to it and will pursue all commercial options available to it to collect
these amounts. The Company will continue to keep the shareholders informed of these risks and the
Company's chosen course of action in due course.
The PGM Circuit D and PGM Main Circuit B (collectively, the "
PGM Circuits
") continue to drive revenue
growth and gross margin improvement for the Company.
Summary of PGM production for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022 and 2021:
Q2 2022
Q2 2021
YTD 2022
YTD 2021
Tons of PGM concentrate
1,868
539
2,747
582
PGM ounces produced (6E)*
2,561
1,112
3,924
1,217
*PGM 6E ounces are estimates until final exchanges and umpire results have been concluded, which can take up to three months.
Wanjin Yang, Chief Executive Officer and President commented, "The Q2 financial results have shown
the Company is on the right path to continue its revenue growth and profitability improvements from the
Retreatment Project and capacity increases from the PGM circuits. We are also focused on achieving a
commercial result to reduce Union Goal's outstanding receivables."
Outlook
The Company's targets for 2022 are as follows:
Operate and optimize the Retreatment Project and maximize returns (ongoing)
Completion of the Optimization Program for the Retreatment Project (ongoing)
Assess the value for continued use of the chrome recovery plant after optimization (ongoing)
Operate and optimize the PGM Circuits (ongoing);
Complete an updated independent technical report on the CRM (completed);
Raise capital to restart Zandfontein underground operations at the CRM (ongoing);
Complete the second phase of the tailings storage facility ("
TSF
") capital works program
(ongoing);
Advance the Mareesburg project environmental work to complete the legal analysis on the
Environmental Impact Assessment ("
EIA
") and other environmental studies and amendments
(ongoing);
Continue prospecting and assessment work in relation to Zandfontein, Crocette and Spitzkop ore
bodies (ongoing);
Complete EIA and assessment work regarding a vertical furnace and pelletizer of chrome
concentrate (ongoing); and
Update other capital assessments upon completion of capital fundraising.
The Company has a primary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on the JSE
Limited.
The Company has filed the following documents, under the Company's profile on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com
:
Condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30,
2022; and
Management's discussion and analysis for the three and six months ended June 30, 2022.
The condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three and six months ended June 30,
2022 are available for download at
Quarterly reports Archives | Eastplats
and are also available on the
JSE's website at:
https://senspdf.jse.co.za/documents/2022/JSE/ISSE/EPS/Q222.pdf
.
COVID-19
The Government of South Africa lifted the National State of Disaster in response to the COVID-19
pandemic on April 5, 2022. The Company continues to follow the health guidelines of the Government of
South Africa. The chrome and PGM production and delivery remains in full operation. The effects of
COVID-19 are uncertain and the consequences of a further temporary shutdown of any operations or
other related issues cannot be reasonably estimated at this time, but could potentially have material
adverse effects on the Company's business, operations, liquidity and cashflows.
About Eastern Platinum Limited
Eastplats owns directly and indirectly a number of PGM and chrome assets in the Republic of South
Africa. All of the Company's properties are situated on the western and eastern limbs of the Bushveld
Complex, the geological environment that hosts approximately 80% of the world's PGM-bearing ore.
Operations at the Crocodile River Mine currently include re-mining and processing its tailings resource
to produce PGM and chrome concentrates from the Barplats Zandfontein tailings dam.
For further information, please contact:
EASTERN PLATINUM LIMITED
Wylie Hui, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
(email)
(604) 800-8200 (phone)
Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking statements" or "forward-looking information" (collectively
referred to herein as "
forward-looking statements
") within the meaning of applicable securities
legislation.
Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation, forecasts, estimates,
expectations and objectives for future operations that are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and
uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company.
Forward-looking statements are
statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "will",
"plan", "intends", "may", "could", "expects", "anticipates" and similar expressions. Further disclosure of
the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and other forward-looking statements are discussed in
the Company's most recent Annual Information Form available under the Company's profile on
www.sedar.com
.
In particular, this news release contains, without limitation, forward-looking statements pertaining to:
profitability; revenue growth and gross margin improvements derived from the PGM Circuits; the
successful pursuit of all commercial options and agreeable outcome regarding the Union Goal
outstanding accounts receivable; the Company's targets for 2022 including optimization of the
Retreatment Project operations; completion of the Optimization Program for the Retreatment Project,
assessment of the value of the chrome recovery plant; operations and optimization of the PGM Circuits;
completion of an updated technical report on the CRM; capital raise to restart Zandfontein underground
operations at the Crocodile River mine; completion of
the second phase of the TSF capital works
program; Mareesburg project environmental work to complete the legal analysis on the EIA and other
environmental studies and amendments; prospecting and assessment work in relation to Zandfontein,
Crocette and Spitzkop ore bodies; EIA and assessment work regarding a vertical furnace and pelletizer
of chrome concentrate; the update of other capital assessments upon completion of capital fundraising;
care and maintenance with respect to the underground portion of the CRM; and the potential effects of
COVID-19 and any future measures taken by the Government of South Africa and their impact on the
Company and its business, operations, liquidity and cashflows. These forward-looking statements are
based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company.
Although
management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently available to
it, they may prove to be incorrect.
By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks
and uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements as a
number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives,
expectations, estimates and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors
include, but are not limited to, unanticipated problems that may arise in the Company's production
processes, commodity prices, lower than expected grades and quantities of resources, need for
additional funding and availability of such additional funding on acceptable terms, economic conditions,
currency fluctuations, competition and regulations, legal proceedings and risks related to operations in
foreign countries.
All forward-looking statements in this news release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this
cautionary statement, the "
Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information
" section contained in
the Company's most recent Management's Discussion and Analysis available under the Company's
profile on
www.sedar.com
. The forward-looking statements in this news release are made as of the date
they are given and, except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any
intention or obligation, and does not undertake, to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or
disapproved the information contained herein.
To view the source version of this press release, please visit
https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/133798