Jubilee Metals Group PLC (LON:JLP) Chief Executive Officer Leon Coetzer caught up with DirectorsTalk for an exclusive interview to discuss their interim results for the year ended December 2018, 2019 progress and what to look out for in the coming months.
Q1: Interims out this morning for the period ended December 2018, can you talk us through the highlights?
A1: The interims, of course is for the year ending December last year, the results yet again shows our company, Jubilee Metals Group, growing its earnings as we’ve told shareholders we will do on the back of our projects as well as the company turning profits even at group PLC level. For the first time, we’re also reporting a positive earnings per share for JLP and that includes a certain once-off items that’s come through the accounts but before that’s in, delivering positive earnings.
As a result, our revenue for the company in the 6-month period is healthy, it’s up nearly 40% to £8 million, our operational profit for our operations is sitting healthy for that 6-month period at nearly £4 million. So, very very good results.
Our PGM, our platinum and palladium side of our business is doing well with ounces nearly doubling from the previous period and of course, the period following December was equally exciting for the company as we progressed in a number of projects.
So, all in all, I think very positive results, earnings growing, revenue growing, operational output growing and operational costs well under control.
Q2: Now, you’ve just touched on an exciting period since December, what’s been happening since then?
A2: Well, actually, quite a lot, Q1 2019, the past 3 months, has been an extremely busy period for the company. We started the year by announcing that on 7th January, we acquired a chrome recovery operation, we went after this operation because of its strategic location, it’s right amongst a number of chrome mining companies that deliver chrome ore and do not process or beneficiate that material.
This company we have acquired has the capacity of process nearly 70,000 tonnes a month of material and we took control of this company on 7th January for an acquisition value of about $10 million. Within a couple of weeks of taking control, we delivered ahead of budget, profits from this company we’ve turned it profitable, we told the market that just in January and February alone, we already delivered nearly £1 million of net profit from that entity.
So, you can see payback on that acquisition will be extremely short and that’s before we roll into that company some of our technology and process efficiency enhancements. I can tell our audiences that we already exceeded 70,000 tonnes a month in that company and we definitely look to grow that further.
That is the start, the second big move, of course, was that we announced the acquisition of Sable Zinc, the refinery in Zambia, which is adjacent to our Kabwe material which is at 6 million tonnes of zinc, vanadium and lead material. We promised our shareholders that we would deliver to them the execution plan of that project, it was a project we secured via a company called BMR and with this acquisition of Sable Zinc, there’s two massive impacts on the project.
The first one is we significantly reduced the capital needed to build a zinc, vanadium and lead refinery and of course, more important than that is we’re able to bring the project on line much more sooner now as we’ll be refurbishing an existing operating refinery rather than building from scratch.
One of the most strategic components this refinery holds is that it actually currently operates and produces sulphuric acid which is the most expensive operating cost we have in our refinery is the acquisition of sulphuric acid to leech our metals. This refinery actually has an operating sulphuric acid plant and generates its own acid.
So, it’s a very strategic acquisition, it very clearly puts the focus on the project and the capacity of this refinery allows us to more than double the originally stated capacity that we would execute that project at. So, it’s been a very busy post-period first quarter for the company.
Q3: Finally, what should investors be looking out for over the company months from Jubilee Metals Group?
A3: Well, I suppose now it’s bedding down these acquisitions. On the one hand, it means that our chrome recovery operation we acquired, it’s bedding down that operation, increasing its throughput and improving its efficiencies to continue to grow those earnings for that project. That project has the ability to nearly double our existing earnings in its own right.
The second part, of course, is now driving the implementation of our Kabwe project in Zambia with our refinery acquired, the design of the circuit completed, it’s now about implementation of our company. We have a good solid track record of implementing, in budget, on time for that project.
Beyond that, it’s about ensuring our existing operations continue to deliver the earnings and of course, the one other little exciting component that comes into our company is the fact that Dilokong, our other project, we’ve commissioned an ultra-fine chrome plant. So, there is significant operation, it’s the first of its kind to be able to recover that small fraction of chrome and that now comes into full commercial production and also contributes to our earnings.
So, for the coming months, it’s all about earnings growth, delivering and implementation of projects for he company.
