Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) told investors that operational earnings from the Hernic platinum operations had nearly doubled in the fourth quarter.
Fourth quarter operational earnings from the site amounted to £0.97mln, up 94% compared to £0.5mln in the preceding quarter.
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At the same time, the operation’s cost per unit reduced to US$382 per ounce of platinum group metals (PGM) from US$476 in the third quarter of 2017. PGM production output was up 31% to 3,755 ounces, from 2,874 ounces in the earlier three months.
Project revenue was up 33% to £2.05mln, from £1.54mln, meanwhile, group operations revenue rose 24% to £3.3mln from £2.67mln. Group operations earnings improved 43% to £1.22mln, from £0.85mln.
"The Jubilee team has delivered an exceptional performance despite the traditional operational slowdown over the festive period,” said chief executive Leon Coetzer in a statement.
“Our Hernic operation has continued to deliver significant operational improvements quarter on quarter, this despite the budgeted increased maintenance and operational slow down over the festive period.”
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He added: “We have implemented necessary process upgrades at our DCM operations to allow for a more flexible operation to expand the processing of 3rd party material.
“We will also be implementing operational efficiency enhancements developed by our in-house technical teams. I look forward to rolling-out these enhancements across our project portfolio.”