LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - South Africa and Ghana-focussed gold producer Goldplat said in an update on Thursday that its two recovery operations continued their "strong" combined operating performance in the third quarter.
The AIM-traded firm said they achieved a combined operating profit for the three months ended 31 March of £2.29m, which was a 96% increase year-on-year.

It said the combined operating profit for its operating entities for the nine months was ahead 43% at £6.05m.

Goldplat said the quarter's strong numbers were supported by increased operating performance in South Africa of £1.63m, up from £0.58m year-on-year, while Ghana achieved "steady" operational results of £0.66m, down from £0.69m.

The company said its cash balances remained "strong" at £2m at the end of the quarter, with more than £5m locked-up in product in transit or already delivered to smelters and refiners.

Goldplat said the turnaround of its material had been delayed due to global supply chain and shipping delays, exacerbated by delays at local ports near its operations.

The cash balances in the group as at 31 March reflected both the £0.31m received on the sale of 32,878,000 shares in Caracal for 0.95p each, and the payment on account of £0.2m for the share buy-back programme announced on 29 March, the board said.

"I am pleased to note the geographically-diversified strength in our recovery operations and the contribution from production of platinum group metals," said chief executive officer Werner Klingenberg.

"This further supports our decision to expand into the South American market and the investment made into leveraging our current skill sets and infrastructure, to diversify the materials and elements we can process economically.

"I am encouraged with progress on the tailings facility which should add a further significant revenue stream to the business in future."

At 1209 BST, shares in Goldplat were up 5.66% at 8.4p.

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