Jubilee Metals is pursuing further near surface copper resource opportunities in Zambia after completing a due diligence for an open pit mine in the southern African country where it intends to ramp up production.
Leon Coetzer, the CEO of Jubilee Metals, said yesterday, "Zambia holds numerous near surface resource opportunities, which we are actively pursuing.”
The completion of due diligence studies for the Project G open pit copper mining operation in Zambia had resulted in Jubilee opting to “acquire a majority interest” under revised terms. These entailed increasing Jubilee’s holding to 65% from the previously announced 51% interest.
It will pay $2 million (R35m) for acquisition of the 65% holding in Project G in cash instead of shares, giving it two open pit mining operations in Zambia. Jubilee has also made a commitment to invest a further $500 000 into the upgrading of the Project G operations
“The strategic acquisition of two open pit operations serves as an example of our ability to leverage our process capability and early mover advantage to secure significant near-surface copper resources which are already in operation. These assets’ predictable, high grades and our ability to owner manage the operations allowing us to control the optimal blend of feed ore to achieve the 25 000 tonne per annum copper target we have set for ourselves,” said Coetzer.
Jubilee intends to hit the ground running on Project G, with the project targeted to commence operations and delivery of pre-concentrated run-of-mine (ROM) to the Sable Refinery by the end of this year.
The company, which also processes chrome in South Africa, will also be appointing a manager and operator of the open-pit operations. Project G “will ramp up over a six month period to reach 3 000 tonnes per month of pre-concentrate material through a Jubilee on-site module, and delivery of an additional 350 copper units per month” to Sable for further refining.
In Zambia, Jubilee is strategising to attain a production capacity of 25 000 tonnes of copper per year.
With Zambia facing rolling power cuts of up to 20 hours a day due to the depletion of hydro-electricity production water levels at Kariba, Jubilee has had to sign up for a power purchase agreement with Lunsemfwa for guaranteed power supply to its operations in the regional country.
Last month, prominent South African business executive, Reuel Khoza joined the board of Jubilee Metals after the resignation of the junior miner’s chief financial officer, Neal Reynolds. Previously, Khoza held high profile positions for large companies that include the JSE, financial services group, Nedbank and the Public Investment Corporation Ltd, as well as Eskom Holdings.
As a result of the higher chrome and copper output, revenues in Jubilee Metals for the full year to June 2024 increased by 20.2% to $205.4m. The higher chrome and copper output helped to offset a “sharp pullback in platinum group metals (PGM) basket prices” obtaining for the period.
Despite this, gross profits in Jubilee for the period slumped from $15.6m to $6.3m while attributable earnings also weakened by 61.7% to $5.9m.
Jubilee will be hosting an investor presentation covering its audited financial results for the year ended June 30, 2024 tomorrow.
BUSINESS REPORT