Eastern Platinum Limited Reports Results for the Third Quarter of 2022
Eastern Platinum Limited Reports Results for
the Third Quarter of 2022
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - November 11, 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 nine months ended September 30, 2022 and
the corresponding management's discussion and analysis. Below is a summary of the Company's
financial results for the third quarter of 2022 ("
Q3 2022
") and for the nine months ended September 30,
2022 ("
YTD 2022
") (all amounts in USD unless specified) in comparison to the same respective period
in 2021 ("
Q3 2021
" and "
YTD 2021
", respectively):
Revenue for Q3 2022 increased to $17.2 million (Q3 2021 - $15.9 million), representing an 8.1%
increase. Revenue for YTD 2022 increased to $55.1 million (YTD 2021 - $52.6 million),
representing a 4.8% increase.
Mine operating income increased by $2.5 million (or 133.6%) to $4.4 million in Q3 2022 (Q3 2021
- $1.9 million), resulting in an improved gross margin of 25.7% in Q3 2022 from 11.9% in Q3 2021.
Mine operating income for the YTD 2022 increased by $5.4 million (or 80.3%) to $12.0 million
(YTD 2021 - $6.6 million), resulting in an improved gross margin of 21.7% in YTD 2022 from
12.6% in YTD 2021.
Operating income was $1.6 million in Q3 2022 compared to an operating loss of $0.4 million in Q3
2021. Operating income improved by $4.0 million to $2.6 million in YTD 2022 from an operating
loss of $1.4 million in YTD 2021.
Net loss attributable to equity shareholders was $4.1 million ($0.03 loss per share) in Q3 2022
versus a net loss attributable to equity shareholders of $2.5 million ($0.02 loss per share) in Q3
2021. The Q3 2022 net loss was largely attributable to a larger foreign exchange loss in Q3 2022
due to the significant depreciation of the South African Rand to the U.S. Dollar in the period.
Net income attributable to equity shareholders decreased to $0.2 million ($0.00 earnings per
share) in YTD 2022 compared to net income attributable to equity shareholders of $0.8 million
($0.01 earnings per share) in YTD 2021. The reduction during YTD 2022 is mainly attributable to
an increase in foreign exchange losses as the South African Rand depreciated against the U.S.
Dollar as mentioned above. Furthermore, the Company received legal settlement income of $3.3
million in YTD 2021, which did not occur in YTD 2022.
The Company had a working capital deficit (current assets less current liabilities) of $33.5 million
as at September 30, 2022 (December 31, 2021 - $14.6 million positive working capital) and short-
term cash resources of $1.2 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 Crocodile River Mine ("
CRM
") in South Africa.
Summary of chrome production for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021:
Q3 2022
Q3 2021
YTD 2022
YTD 2021
Total Tailings Feed (Tons)
654,802
638,791
1,893,774
1,906,963
Average grade Cr concentrate
38.7%
38.8%
38.8%
38.6%
Tons of Cr concentrate
154,412
195,942
445,373
623,330
The majority of the Company's revenue (approximately 78% for Q3 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 $16.4 million from Union Goal in accounts receivable
from processing and dispatching chrome concentrate in addition to $2.6 million for chrome concentrate
not yet invoiced as of the date of this news release. Management continues to communicate with Union
Goal to determine an agreeable outcome. 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 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 nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021:
Q3 2022
Q3 2021
YTD 2022
YTD 2021
Tons of PGM concentrate
1,532
366
4,279
948
PGM ounces produced (6E)*
2,477
655
6,489
1,872
*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, "We continue to focus on achieving a
commercial result to reduce Union Goal's outstanding receivables. Furthermore, we are working with our
South Africa management team to reduce production costs. We remain committed to the Zandfontein
underground restart plan, and expect the initial processing of the UG2 chromitite ore in the first quarter of
2023."
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);
Raise capital to accelerate the restart of Zandfontein underground operations at the CRM, develop
eastern limb projects and support ongoing operations;
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);
Keep working on the EIA assessment, and structure and geology-related drill program at Spitzkop
(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 nine months ended
September 30, 2022; and
Management's discussion and analysis for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022.
The condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three and nine months ended
September 30, 2022 are available for download at
https://www.eastplats.com/investors/quarterly-
reports/F2022/
and are also available on the JSE's website at:
https://senspdf.jse.co.za/documents/2022/JSE/ISSE/EPS/Q322.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:
restarting the Zandfontein underground mine; the successful pursuit of all commercial options and
agreeable outcome regarding the Union Goal outstanding accounts receivable; the receipt of any money
owed to the Company from Union Goal; initial processing of the UG2 chromitite ore in the first quarter of
2023; 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; capital raise to accelerate the
restart of Zandfontein underground operations at the Crocodile River mine, develop eastern limb
projects and support ongoing operations; 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; working on EIA assessment and structure and geology-related drill
program at Spitzkop; 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/143894