Shareholders are also advised that these results have been audited by the Group auditors Saffery Champness as required by the JSE Listings Requirements.

The Company also announces that the Group’s Annual Report and Accounts for the year ended 30 June 2014 has been posted to the website with notice of the Company’s 2014 Annual General Meeting, which will be held at 11:00 am on 24 December 2014 at Daniel Stewart & Company, Becket House, 36 Old Jewry, London, EC2R 8DD.

Highlights

Year under review

  • Revenue as measured in GBP is down 15% (mainly due to an 18% strengthening of GDP to the ZAR for the year under review) but increased by 4% as measured in ZAR over the comparative 2013 and 2014 reporting periods
  • Revenue recorded of GBP4 million ( ZAR 68.1 million) for 2014 compared to GBP 4.8 million (ZAR 65.4 million) for 2013
  • Gross profit margin increased by 0.4 % to 39.4%, for 2014 compared to 2013 period, recording a gross profit of GBP 1.6 million (ZAR 26.8 million up 5% as measured in ZAR)
  • Operating expenses are down 21.2% to GBP 7.1 million (ZAR 120 million) from GBP 9.1 million (ZAR 125 million) in 2013
  • The Group reported a loss for the year ended 30 June 2014 of 1.27 pence per ordinary share compared with a loss of 2.41 pence per ordinary share for 2013
  • Middelburg Smelter expansion and renewal programme successfully concluded with Middelburg operations setting new records for production and revenues.
  • The National Electricity Provider of South Africa extended the Private Power Purchase Agreement with the Company’s subsidiary Power Alt Pty Ltd, driven by the continued pressure on the National Provider to meet supply of electricity to the national grid.
  • Revenue for Middelburg Operation in ZAR up 13% over previous reporting period.
  • Gross profit for Middelburg Operation exceeded the targeted 38% by Q2 2014.
  • Sale of Rights Agreement for Quartzhill farm portion of Tjate Platinum executed with Anglo American’s subsidiary Rustenburg Platinum Mines Ltd ("RPL").
  • Environmental Impact Assessment and Management Programme for the Tjate Platinum Mine project submitted to the Department of Mineral Resource ("DMR").
  • Access Agreement executed with ASA Metals Pty Ltd ("ASA") and Dilokong Chrome Mines ("DCM") for the recovery of platinum group metals ("PGM") and chrome from DCM’s tailings ("Tailings"), including the option to construct a dedicated PGM processing plant on the DCM site.
  • Farm-in partner Indian Pacific Resources Ltd ("IPR") completed seven-hole drilling programme on the Samelahy iron ore property within Jubilee’s Ambodilafa tenement in Madagascar and by year-end earned in 81% interest in the property, having expended in excess of US$2 million.

Post year-end

  • Middelburg Smelter Production up 47% in Q3 of 2014.
  • Jubilee commenced with processing of platinum containing material at its smelters..

Chief Executive Officer of Jubilee, Leon Coetzer says:

"We are pleased to announce results that continue to demonstrate the Company’s consistent improvement in its operations while also growing our existing asset base by securing access an estimated 950 000 tons of platinum containing material at surface.

"The growth in our revenue in South African Rands compared to the previous reporting period illustrates the successful implementation of the Middelburg smelter renewal and expansion program concluded in the last quarter of the financial period under review. This increase in revenue was despite the lower revenues achieved during the construction and commissioning phase of the renewal program for Q4 of 2013 and Q1 of 2014. This growth in revenue was underpinned by a decrease in operating expenditure supporting our targeted gross profit margins. Both revenue and gross profit margins continued to grow post the reporting period with the Middelburg operations achieving record production during Q3 of 2014.

"The Company’s focus is firmly set on sustaining the production levels at the Middelburg operations while bringing into operation the processing of the platinum containing surface material at the Dilokong Chrome Mine. The Company further expects to conclude the sale of the Quartzhill property for an estimated GBP 4.3 million (ZAR 75 million) within the first quarter of 2015."

Overview

In the period under review Jubilee continued to make significant progress in the implementation of its Mine-to-Metals strategy to form a fully integrated mining company while continuing to grow its revenue and gross profit margin from the previous reporting period. Several significant milestones were achieved by the Company during this period to advance its strategy.

These events included several financing and refinancing transactions, culminating in the successful implementation of its smelter renewal and expansion programme at its Middelburg Operations in May 2014, meeting both its operational and financial targets. The Company’s private power plant concluded the procurement of further electricity sale agreements with the National Electricity Provider of South Africa. Increased production on the back of the completion of the third ARC furnace and ramp up of smelter throughput began to contribute positively to the smelter’s cash flow by year-end and post year-end. The smelter achieved record production during Q3 2014.

Jubilee’s Tjate Platinum Project concluded the signing of the Sale of Rights Agreement for the acquisition of the Quartzhill property by Anglo American Platinum. The development of the Tjate Platinum Project advanced significantly with the DMR’s acceptance of Tjate’s Mining Right Application and Tjate’s submission of the Project’s Environmental Impact Assessment and Management Programme.

Jubilee’s access to platinum containing surface material for further processing was bolstered by the conclusion of an access agreement between Jubilee’s subsidiary Pollux Investment Holdings Pty Ltd ("Pollux") and ASA in June 2014. This agreement offers Jubilee access to utilities such as water and power as well as property for the construction of the PGM processing plant to upgrade the platinum containing surface material prior to smelting of the concentrate. Jubilee is fully focused on bringing this project into operation within the near term to significantly bolster Jubilee’s projected revenue growth.

The Company moved its listing on the main board of the JSE Limited ("JSE") to the Alternative Exchange ("AltX") of the JSE. As a result the AIM exchange, on which the Company’s shares are traded, became the primary listing for exchange regulatory purposes being a more accurate reflection of our shareholder base.

On the corporate front, Jubilee was unable to conclude the targeted acquisition of Platinum Australia Ltd ("PLA"). While the Jubilee Board acknowledges and believes that the combination of the assets of the two companies offered value to Jubilee shareholders by allowing the Company to fast track its Mine-to-Metals strategy, the increased debt owed by PLA to its senior creditor against a significantly lower than expected platinum metal price challenged the viability of the financial structure of the transaction and no longer offered the shareholder value in accordance with the mandate given to the Jubilee Board by its shareholders.

Conditions in global markets improved marginally with sustained demand for platinum group metals. The South African platinum industry was again dogged by labour strikes affecting all the major producers and putting further pressure on the supply of PGM metals.
Mining and exploration

The Company’s subsidiary Tjate Platinum Corporation Pty Ltd ("Tjate") received a letter of acceptance from the DMR in February 2014 of Tjate’s Mining Right Application ("MRA") for its targeted 70 million PGM ounces mine project. Following discussions with the DMR on the timing for submission of the Scoping Report, Environmental Impact Assessment and Management Programme ("EIA/EMP’) in this regard, Tjate formally engaged environmental consultants to undertake a Scoping Report and EIA/EMP.

Tjate submitted the Scoping Report on 14 April 2014 and by the end of the financial year had finalised the EIA/EMP including a Public Participation Process Report for submission. Post year-end Tjate submitted the full EIA/EMP on 4 October 2014 to the DMR and continued public consultations with the interested and affected parties.

In regard to the Sale of Rights Agreement (executed 8 October 2013) with RPL, in terms of which RPL agreed to purchase Tjate’s non-core Quartzhill farm portion of the Tjate Platinum project for ZAR75 million (approximately £4.2 million cash) (the "Sale"), the DMR acknowledged the executed sale agreement and to this end Tjate and the Company engaged with the DMR’s Director of Legal Services and the DMR’s Limpopo Regional Office for guidance on the process to expedite the review of the Sale and the transfer of the Quartzhill rights to RPL. The Sale is subject to the approval of the DMR and the grant of a Mining Right to Tjate, decisions for both of which had not yet been made by year-end and at the date of this report. Tjate continued to work with the DMR’s office and RPL to expedite the approval of the Sale and the grant of Mining Right.

The Quartzhill farm is considered non-core and has no impact on Tjate’s mining plan.