Shares in Jubilee Platinum PLC (LON:JLP) jumped by nearly 8% in morning trade in London on 31st March, following a positive set of interim results.
Leon Coetzer, the company’s energetic chief executive referred to the period in question, to the end of December 2015, as “transformative”, but what investors really liked was the post-period end update on funding.
Funding is tight in the junior mining sector at the moment, as every seasoned investor knows.
Nevertheless, the moves Jubilee has been making in disposing of its smelting business and its acquisition of two platinum surface processing projects, has allowed it to secure significant backing both in the equity and the debt markets.
Post the period end the company has put in place secured debt funding of up to US$10 mln, unsecured debt funding of up to US$5 mln. It’s also managed to raise £2.5 mln of new money in the equity markets.
All of which puts Jubilee in a strong position to move forward with its plans for its Hernic and Asa processing facilities.
The first of these is already up and running and producing at a rate of 25,000 tonnes per month, while the second is under construction and likely to be commissioned at the end of this year, targeting a production rate of 55,000 tonnes per month.
And there may be more deals to come.
Chairman Colin Bird spelled out the strategy: “The Board is determined not to embark upon any venture or ventures where short-term benefit cannot be seen for our shareholders,” he said.
“At this stage we firmly believe that our operating space is surface material, small primary operations in either chrome or PGMs preferably access from an open pit but we do not rule out small adit operations.”
All of which means that the financial picture presented in these results is likely to be no more than a transitory picture.
The company booked a loss of £645,000 for the year, of which £277,000 was accounted for by operations now discontinued. Revenue jumped considerably to £1.375 mln, up from just £49,000 in the previous six months, and a mere £2,000 booked in the corresponding period a year ago.