Pallinghurst to unveil strategies
• Group set to update investors on coloured gemstones, manganese, platinum group metals and growth plans
Pallinghurst Resources will update shareholders in coming weeks about its strategies in coloured gemstones, manganese, platinum group metals (PGMs) and growth as it settles into its new role as an operator rather than an investment holding company.
Pallinghurst said a repeat of the interim results it posted on Tuesday — showing a total comprehensive loss of $81m compared with a $33m loss a year earlier mainly because of a $64m writedown of its investment in Gemfields — would be less likely now that it had taken full control of the company and delisted it from the London bourse.
Pallinghurst is actively working in Ethiopia to add emeralds and sapphires to its coloured gemstone portfolio, which includes the Kagem emerald mine in Zambia and the Montepuez ruby mine in Mozambique, making it the largest coloured gemstone producer, said CEO Arne Frandsen.
Pallinghurst is giving Kagem mine, which had its worst annual production in seven years, close attention, he said.
Another area receiving a lot of focus is Pallinghurst’s investment in the Sedibelo Platinum Mines north of the Pilanesberg nature reserve.
The opencast mine dropped interim production by nearly a quarter to 62,000oz of four platinum group metals in concentrate — something Fransen said was on target — after a costcutting exercise at the operation to cope with persistently low rand prices for the metals coming from the mine.
Sedibelo was in the process of adding a chrome-extraction plant to boost the revenue stream and offset the cost of PGMs production by selling the by-product. Frandsen declined to say how much chrome would come from the new plant.
The other big decision coming from Pallinghurst is around its stake in the Tshipi manganese mine, which is on track to export 3-million tonnes of ore in 2017, making it the largest source of manganese from Africa. Pallinghurst and its partner, Australia’s Jupiter Mines, have asked Bank of America Merrill Lynch to study options around selling its 49% stake, listing the mine or staying put.