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Jubilee Metals Group Plc (JSE:JBL) News - Operations and Projects Update for the six months to 30 June 2022
Jubilee Metals Group Plc
Registration number (4459850)
Altx share code: JBL
AIM share code: JLP
ISIN: GB0031852162
("Jubilee" or the "Company” or the “Group”)
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Operations and Projects Update for the six months to 30 June 2022 (H2 FY2022)
Jubilee Metals Group PLC, a diversified leader in metals processing with operations in Africa (AIM:
JLP/Altx: JBL), is pleased to announce the performance of its operations and progress on growth projects
for the six-month period to 30 June 2022. Figures in this announcement are unaudited and excludes the
effect of foreign exchange profits or losses.
Jubilee’s key achievement during the period was the completion and early results achieved of its c. £ 58
million (ZAR1.2 billion) investment programme in South Africa and Zambia that has reshaped the
company, provided expanded production across PGMs, Chrome, Copper and Cobalt, and laid the
platform for the expected growth during the full FY 2023 period.
Key Achievements for H2 FY2022
• Jubilee successfully completed its c. £ 58 million (ZAR 1.2 billion) investment programme to
diversify and expand the Company’s PGM, copper and cobalt operational footprint
• In South Africa, construction and commissioning of the new 45% expanded Inyoni operations
were completed in March 2022 with an annualised nameplate production capacity of 44 000
PGM ounces and a 1.2 million tonnes combined chrome concentrate capacity (up 85%)
• Jubilee achieved increased production of 21 140 PGM ounces for the six-month period (up 5%
from the previous six-month period) despite planned operational interruptions to complete the
new Inyoni processing facility
• Notably 95% of PGM ounces was produced at the new Inyoni operations during six-month
period (compared to 75% in FY2021). This brings enhanced economics to Jubilee and has
mitigated the impact of softer PGM prices
• Early results from the new Inyoni operations have outperformed expectations with a 34%
reduction in PGM unit cost compared with the six-month period ending December 2021, as the
facility benefits from significantly increased operational footprint and increased contribution
from chrome production
• The enlarged Inyoni delivered an increase in unit earnings per PGM ounce of 12% compared
with the six-month period ending December 2021, despite the realised PGM basket price
reducing 3% over the period
• In Zambia, Copper production increased 14% to 1 388 tonnes, over the previous six-month
period
• Southern Copper Refining Strategy for 12 000 tonnes per annum of copper was brought
onstream with the commissioning of the new Roan copper concentrator and ramp-up of
operations reached 80% of design capacity in August 2022
Leon Coetzer, CEO, commented: “I am extremely proud of the Jubilee team’s performance, and I thank
each one of them for their dedication and innovation despite the various challenges, including at times,
intense and prolonged supply chain disruptions. The team has delivered a significantly expanded and
further diversified operational footprint which is already producing material increases in output and
efficiencies.
“The rationale for the investment to expand our Inyoni operations is best illustrated by the simultaneous
increase in not only the overall PGM production but also the sharp increase in earnings generated per
PGM ounce despite softer metal prices. The past six months and especially the last quarter has shown a
sharp increase in PGM production and lower costs as Inyoni achieved its full design capacity with the
majority of the PGM production stemming from this quarter. This performance underpins our target of
reaching 44 000 PGM ounces per annum from our own facilities as more of our production benefits from
our renowned efficiencies.
“Equally in copper following a delayed start due to equipment deliveries, our Project Roan reached 80%
of design capacity during the first week of August. This puts us on track to achieve our targeted 3 700
tonnes of copper over the current six-month period ending December 2022. The increased production
rates are expected to further reduce our unit cost. With the delivery of Project Roan, we are on track to
reach 10 000 tonnes of copper for the full twelve-month period ending June 2023, while we work to
unlock the cobalt potential.
“I am very excited by what the FY 2023 period holds. It offers tremendous potential growth for our
Company as it benefits from the foundation laid during the FY2022 period, with the full exposure of our
enlarged South African operations as well as the commissioning of our new 12 000 tonnes per annum
Southern Copper Refining operations and the realisation of our cobalt production.”
OPERATIONAL KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
COMBINED OPERATIONAL
PERFORMANCE (UNAUDITED)
12 months to six months to six months to
% change
KEY UNITS OF PRODUCTION Unit 30 Jun 2022 30 Jun 2022 31 Dec 2021
H2 vs H1
FY2022 (H2) (H1)
PGM ounces:
- Inyoni Oz 35 188 20 036 15 152 32%
- Third party JV Oz 6 268 1 104 5 164 (79%)
Total PGM ounces Oz 41 456 21 140 20 316 4%
Copper tonnes Tonne 2 604 1 388 1 216 14%
UNIT REVENUE
Revenue per PGM ounce $/oz 1 609 1 586 1 632 (3%)
Revenue per copper tonne $/t 9 195 8 903 9 527 (7%)
UNIT COSTS
Net cost per PGM ounce (after by-
$/oz 447 358 540 (34%)
product credits chrome)1
Net cost per copper tonne (after by-
$/t 5 371 4 931 5 873 (16%)
product credits cobalt)
UNIT EARNINGS2
Net earnings per PGM ounce $/oz 1 162 1 228 1 092 12%
Net earnings per copper tonne $/t 3 824 3 972 3 654 9%
COMBINED KEY FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS FROM OPERATIONS
• Operational earnings totalled £ 24 million (ZAR 480 million) for the six-month period ending
June 2022 (up 24% from the previous six-month period)
• Revenue from operations totalled £ 76 million (ZAR 1.5 billion) for the six-month period ending
June 2022 (up 21% from the previous six-month period)
• PGM unit cost of production reduced by 34% driven by increased PGM operational footprint
and increased contribution of chrome by-product credits
• The group cash and cash equivalents as at 30 June 2022, stood at £ 16 million (FY2021 £ 19.6
million)
South African Operations
Operational Highlights
• South African operations maintained a strong safety performance over the six-month period
with 162 days worked without any LTI
• Jubilee’s PGM operations delivered 21 140 PGM ounces of which 95% was delivered by the
expanded Inyoni operations for the six-month period. This equates to an increase of 32%
compared with Inyoni’s previous best performance of 15 152 PGM ounces
• Third party JV ounces decreased 79% as part of the strategy to migrate to Inyoni only production
Operational Financial Highlights
• Early results from the expanded Inyoni operations exceed expectations with a reduction of 34%
in PGM unit cost of operations due to the increased PGM processing capacity and a sharp
increase in the contribution from chrome by-product operations
• Net revenue from South African operations over the six-month period increased to £ 67 million
(ZAR 1.3 billion) up 21% from the previous six-month period
• Net operational earnings from South Africa for the six-month period reached £ 20 million (ZAR
400 million) maintaining a strong margin of 30% and up 23% from the previous six-month period
Zambian Operations
Project and Operational Highlights
• Zambian operations maintained a strong safety performance achieving 124 days worked
without any LTI
• 12 000 tonne per annum Southern Copper Refining Strategy brought into operation with the
integration of the newly commissioned Roan copper concentrator with Sable Refinery
• Ramp-up of the Roan concentrator reaches 80% of design capacity at the time of this
announcement
• Copper tonnes sold during the six-month period as part of operational trials increased to 1 388
tonnes, up 14% over the previous six-month period
Operational Financial Highlights
• Net revenue from Zambian operations increased to £ 10 million (ZAR 200 million) for the six-
month period, up 16% from the previous six-month period
• Net operational earnings from Zambian operations increased to £ 4.2 million (ZAR 84 million)
up 30% from the previous six-month period
Prospects for FY2023
South Africa
• The new enlarged PGM and chrome operations have set the platform to deliver 44 000 PGM
ounces and 1.2million tonnes of chrome concentrate per annum from Jubilee’s own capacity.
The PGM production benefits from the increased efficiencies of this new enlarged facility, which
is significantly subsidised by the increased chrome production as highlighted by the results for
the H2 six-month period. FY2023 offers strong potential for growth in earnings as it benefits
from the full exposure of our enlarged South African operations
• Jubilee continues to progress discussions to secure a further PGM processing footprint in the
Eastern Limb of the Bushveld (north-eastern region of South Africa’s chrome and PGM mining
region). Jubilee has already secured significant tailings resources with further expansion
opportunities in the area. Jubilee is reviewing the option to either secure a decommissioned
PGM facility that will be repurposed by Jubilee, or to construct a new facility in the region
Zambia
• The Southern Copper Refining Strategy targets to produce 3 700 tonnes of copper within the
first half of FY2023 ramping up to target 10 000 tonnes of copper for the full FY2023 year. If
achieved this equates to a 284% increase in copper output
• In addition, the Company looks to complete the testing and commissioning of the cobalt circuit
on the back of the completed ramp up of Project Roan offering the potential of significant
earnings contribution
• Jubilee’s technical and projects team can now dedicate their focus on the development and
execution of the Northern Copper Refining Strategy
Please refer to the Appendices for a detailed breakdown of the performance achieved during H2
FY2022.
10 August 2022
For further information visit www.jubileemetalsgroup.com or contact:
Jubilee Metals Group PLC
Leon Coetzer
Tel: +27 (0) 11 465 1913
PR & IR Adviser – Tavistock
Jos Simson/ Gareth Tredway/ Adam Baynes
Tel: +44 (0) 207 920 3150
Nominated Adviser – SPARK Advisory Partners Limited
Andrew Emmott/ James Keeshan
Tel: +44 (0) 20 3368 3555
Joint Broker - Berenberg
Matthew Armitt/ Jennifer Lee/ Detlir Elezi
Tel +44 (0) 20 3207 7800
Joint Broker – WHIreland
Harry Ansell/ Katy Mitchell
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 1670/+44 (0) 113 394 6618
Joint Broker – Shard Capital Partners LLP
Damon Heath/ Erik Woolgar
Tel +44 (0) 20 7186 9900
United Kingdom
10 August 2022
JSE Sponsor to Jubilee
Questco Corporate Advisory Proprietary Limited
Sharon Owens
APPENDICES
SUMMARY OF OPERATIONAL AND FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE
South African Operations
USD Pound Sterling
6 months 6 months 6 months 6 months
% %
FY2022 to end to end Unit UNAUDITED Unit to end to end FY2022
change change
Dec 2021 Jun 2022 Jun 2022 Dec 2021
PRODUCTION
Inyoni ounces
35 188 15 152 20 036 32% oz oz 32% 20 036 15 152 35 188
sold
Third party JV
6 268 5 164 1 104 (79%) oz oz (79%) 1 104 5 164 6 268
ounces sold
Total PGM
41 456 20 316 21 140 4% oz oz 4% 21 140 20 316 41 456
ounces sold
By-product tonnes
1 222 452 619 900 602 552 (3%) tonne tonne (3%) 602 552 619 900 1 222 452
(chrome)
FINANCIALS
REVENUE FROM
OPERATIONS
66 703 33 164 33 539 1% $'000 PGM revenue £'000 6% 25 820 24 330 50 150
By-product
94 370 41 487 52 883 27% $'000 £'000 34% 40 712 30 436 71 148
revenue (chrome)
161 073 74 650 86 422 16% $'000 Net revenue £'000 21% 66 532 54 766 121 298
OPERATING
COSTS
26 162 13 823 12 340 (11%) $’000 - Processing cost £'000 (6%) 9 500 10 141 19 640
- Transport costs
4 654 1 534 3 120 103% $’000 £'000 113% 2 402 1 125 3 528
Eastern Limb
- By-product
82 103 37 102 45 001 21% $’000 £'000 27% 34 644 27 219 61 863
costs (chrome)
Total PGM
112 919 52 458 60 461 15% $’000 £'000 21% 46 546 38 485 85 031
operating costs
OPERATIONAL
EARNINGS
35 886 17 807 18 079 2% $'000 PGM earnings £'000 7% 13 918 13 064 26 982
By-product PGM
12 267 4 385 7 882 80% $'000 earnings £'000 89% 6 068 3 217 9 285
(chrome)
Net earnings
48 153 22 192 25 961 17% $'000 £'000 23% 19 986 16 281 36 267
from operations
FINANCIAL
RESULTS PER
OUNCE
Revenue per
1 609 1 632 1 586 (3%) $/oz £/oz 2% 1 221 1 198 1 210
PGM ounce
By-product PGM
2 276 2 042 2 502 22% $/oz revenue per £/oz 29% 1 926 1 498 1 716
ounce (chrome)
Net revenue per
3 885 3 675 4 088 11% $/oz £/oz 17% 3 147 2 696 2 926
PGM ounce
Operating cost
per PGM ounce:
631 680 584 (14%) $/oz - Processing cost £/oz (10%) 449 499 474
- Transport costs
112 75 147 96% $/oz £/oz 107% 114 55 85
Eastern Limb
- By-product cost
1 980 1 826 2 129 17% $/oz £/oz 22% 1 639 1 340 1 492
(chrome)
Total operating
2 723 2 583 2 860 11% $/oz cost per PGM £/oz 16% 2 202 1 894 2 051
ounce
Net earnings per
PGM ounce after
1 162 1 092 1 228 12% $/oz £/oz 18% 945 801 875
by-product credit
(chrome)
Cost per PGM
Ounce net of by-
447 540 358 (34%) $/oz £/oz (30%) 276 396 335
product credit
(chrome)
Health and Safety
The South African operations maintained their record of no reportable occupational health or
environmental incidents over the six-month period. The combined operations have achieved 162 days
without a lost time injury (LTI) with a lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR) of 2.0. Over the period 217
128 tonnes of historical tailings were uplifted, processed and placed on a modern tailings facility by the
Jubilee tailings operations.
Operational Performance
In South Africa, Jubilee delivered on its strategy to maximize the processing of historical tailings through
its own operations, rather than utilizing the processing capacity offered by third party processing
facilities through existing joint venture agreements. Jubilee’s new Inyoni processing facility significantly
outperforms the efficiencies achieved at the third-party facilities.
The PGM operational processing capacity has been increased by 45% to 75 000 tonnes per month which
holds the potential to produce 44 000 PGM ounces per annum. The expansion program included the
expansion of the chrome processing operations by approximately 80% to 250 000 tonnes per month
which holds the potential to produce 1.2 million tonnes of chrome concentrate per annum. The chrome
operations play an important role in Jubilee’s PGM operations by not only acting as a feeder system to
the PGM operations but also subsidising the PGM unit cost through the sales of chrome concentrate.
Jubilee achieved the production of 21 140 PGM ounces for six-month period. Notably 95% of the PGM
production stemmed from the new Inyoni operations, exceeding Inyoni’s previous best performance by
32%. Q4 of FY2022 saw a significant jump in PGM production as the new Inyoni operations reached its
full design capacity. The enlarged facility benefits from the scale of operations with the unit cash cost
to produce a PGM ounce reducing to US$ 358 over the six-month period. The cash cost per PGM ounce
for the six-month period benefitted from the increased contribution from the sale of chrome
concentrate accounting for US$ 373 per PGM ounce or £ 6.1 million (ZAR 122 million).
While PGM production over the six-month period continued to be impacted by the ramp-up of the new
Inyoni processing facility, production of PGMs is expected to continue to sharply increase as the new
Inyoni facility operates at full design capacity.
The Company confirms its guidance of 44 000 PGM ounces from own production for FY2023 with an
option to add a further 8 000 PGM ounces from third party processing agreements dependent on stock
availability.
Zambian Operations
USD Pound Sterling
6 months 6 months 6 months 6 months to
% %
FY2022 to end to end Jun Unit UNAUDITED Unit to end Jun end Dec FY2022
change change
Dec 2021 2022 2022 2021
PRODUCTION
2 604 1 216 1 388 14% Tonnes Copper tonnes sold Tonnes 14% 1 388 1 216 2 604
FINANCIALS
REVENUE FROM
OPERATIONS
23 943 11 585 12 358 7% $'000 Copper revenue £'000 12% 9 514 8 499 18 013
By-product copper
441 - 441 100% $'000 £'000 100% 339 - 339
revenue (cobalt)
24 384 11 585 12 799 10% $'000 Net copper revenue £'000 16% 9 853 8 499 18 352
OPERATING COSTS
Total copper
13 985 7 141 6 844 (4%) $'000 £'000 1% 5 269 5 239 10 508
operating costs
OPERATIONAL
EARNINGS
Copper earnings
By-product copper
earnings (cobalt)
9 958 4 444 5 514 24% $'000 Net copper earnings £'000 30% 4 245 3 260 7 505
FINANCIAL
RESULTS PER
TONNE
Revenue per copper
9 195 9 527 8 903 (7%) $/t £/t (2%) 6 854 6 989 6 917
tonne
By-product revenue
169 - 318 100% $/t per copper tonne £/t 100% 245 - 130
(cobalt)
Net revenue per
9 364 9 527 9 221 (3%) $/t £/t 2% 7 099 6 989 7 048
copper tonne
Net earnings per
copper tonne after
3 824 3 654 3 973 9% $/t £/t 14% 3 058 2 681 2 882
by-product credit
(cobalt)
Cost per copper
tonne net of by-
5 371 5 873 4 931 (16%) $/t £/t (12%) 3 796 4 308 3 905
product credit
(cobalt)
Health and Safety
The Zambian operations maintained their record of no reportable occupational health or environmental
incidents over the six-month period. The combined operations and projects have achieved 124 days
without a LTI with a LTIFR of 2.9.
Operational Performance
Jubilee's copper strategy in Zambia includes, as its first phase, the implementation of its Southern
Copper Refining Strategy which targets to produce up to 12 000 tonnes (design capacity of 14 000
tonnes) of copper units per annum including a cobalt by-product from certain cobalt containing feed
streams. The fully integrated Southern Copper Refining Strategy is a significant step for Jubilee as it
diversifies its processing footprint across commodities and jurisdictions. It also holds the potential to
significantly grow Jubilee’s earnings in a commodity such as copper supported by strong fundamentals.
The strategy integrates the upgraded Sable Refinery with Project Roan, a new copper concentrator
processing both Run-Of-Mine copper ore as well as tailings to produce copper concentrates for refining
at Sable (10 000 tonnes per annum), which complements the existing supply of third-party feed to Sable
refinery (2 000 tonnes per annum). Total capital spent to end June 2022 to deliver the integrated
Southern Copper Refining Strategy's capital allocation totalled c. £ 36.1 million (ZAR 721 million).
Jubilee's project execution team broke ground for the construction of the new copper concentrator,
Project Roan, in June 2021 and despite the challenges caused by the COVID 19 pandemic and its effect
on supply chains the team was able to commence testing of certain equipment within seven months
and completed all construction activity within eleven months which remains a remarkable achievement.
Despite a slight delay in start-up Project Roan has reached a production throughput level of 80% of
design capacity.
In addition to the copper refining capacity at Sable, Jubilee approved the implementation of a cobalt
refining circuit at Sable which at full design capacity holds the potential to produce up to 1 200 tonnes
of cobalt product per annum. Testing and ramp-up of the cobalt circuit will follow the completed Roan
concentrator ramp-up to ensure stable feed to the circuit.
Crucially, and in line with Jubilee's goals to promote sustained, inclusive economic growth, the Southern
Copper Refining Strategy has resulted in significant job creation, with total jobs filled in Zambia reaching
over 700 during the last twelve months. Jubilee has prioritised sourcing of skills and services from its
local communities and has in many instances partnered with local firms to assist in their growth and
development to offer a sustained service to its projects.
Over the six-month period the Company sold 1 388 tonnes of copper at a unit cost of US$ 4 931 per
tonne of copper cathode. The majority of the production stems from operational trails as part of
ensuring operational readiness at the Sable Refinery for Project Roan.
The Company targets the production of 3 700 tonnes of copper for the 6-month period ending
December 2022 in-line with the ramp-up to full production of Project Roan.
Date: 10-08-2022 08:00:00
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