Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) shares surged in mid-morning Thursday after its combined quarterly earnings jumped 13%.
In an operations update for the fourth quarter, the metals miner reported that operational earnings had risen to £2.17mln, while its Hernic operation in South Africa had set a new quarterly production record delivering a 4% rise in platinum group metals (PGM) delivered to 6,279 ounces.
READ: Jubilee Metals begins production at PlatCro and commissioning of fine chrome operation at DCM
The firm also said it had commenced commissioning at its DCM fine chrome project in the country and was delivering high-grade chrome concentrate to target.
Jubilee said production rates at the site had been reduced to facilitate the integration of a new fine chrome recovery plant but expected them to be ramped-up to the plant capacity of 25,000 tonnes per month in the near future.
For the fourth quarter, DCM produced 8,958 ounces of chrome concentrate, up from 8,053 in the third quarter.
For its PlatCro PGM operation, Jubilee said it had commissioned a hydro-mining and dewatering plant during the quarter and expected to begin delivering PGM rich material to the Eland Platinum concentrator during January.
The company added that the reclamation and dewatering plant would facilitate the ramp-up of deliveries to the Eland concentrator and was targeting a rate of between 50,000-60,000 tonnes of platinum-rich material per month.
Leon Coetzer, chief executive of Jubilee, said the company had delivered the improved performance in a period that is “generally challenged” by the festive season.
“I am particularly pleased with the commissioning of our advanced fine chrome plant at DCM, which is delivering chrome concentrate to target specifications since early January. The fine chrome plant is targeting the recovery of chrome from the approximate 620 000 tonnes of chrome material contained in the existing DCM tailings. We intend to implement this technology into all our other operations in the near future” he added.
Jubilee shares were up 7.1% at 2.6p.