Red Rock Resources plc announced record production during October at its manganese-iron ore interests in Jupiter Mines Ltd in Northern Cape, South Africa.
FINANCES
Cash generated from operations at Tshipi Borwa mine during the third quarter was reported at AU$ 42.1m.
Average FOB cost of production fell from Q2 to Q3 by approximately 15%.
Cash after tax and operating activities amounted to AU$122.6 million.
During Q3, a total of 3,422,903 tonnes of volume was mined with production at 925,652 tonnes.
Sales exceeding 60,000 tpm have been built up ahead of schedule by Jupiter’s new shipping route through Lüderitz port to reduce road transport costs. Rail allocations have returned to usual levels.
Jupiter said its attributable cash balance was $89 million for the quarter ended 30 November 2020.
IRON ORE SPIN-OFF
Tshipi Borwa, an open pit mine in the Kalahari Manganese Field (KMF), is operated by Tshipi é Ntle Manganese Mining Proprietary Ltd (Tshipi).
Jupiter has a 49.9% beneficial interest in Tshipi, and Red Rock’s current holding in Jupiter is AU$4 million (£2.21m).
Red Rock chairman Andrew Bell said that the projected iron ore spin-off initial public offering was expected at the end of February or early March.
“In a testament to the resilience and inventiveness of the company’s management, Jupiter has already returned to pre-Covid activity levels, with sales in tonnes for the quarter up 32.2% year on year and up 27.6% quarter-on-quarter, despite difficult conditions during the quarter.
“In October, Jupiter achieved the highest production volume in its history, and as a result of increased volumes and a higher grade mix, unit costs of production saw a 3.5% drop year -on-year and a 15.4% decrease quarter-on-quarter.”
CENTRAL YILGARN IRON
In addition to its holdings in Jupiter Mines, Red Rock has a 1.3% gross revenue royalty over the Mt Ida iron ore project.
The Mt Ida deposit and the Mt Mason DSO haematite deposit comprise the Central Yilgarn iron ore project.
Mt Ida has a 1.23 billion tonne JORC compliant indicated resource of 29.79% iron in its central zone, and inferred resource of 615m tonnes at 28.86% in the northern and southern zones.
Red Rock’s total interests in gold, copper-cobalt, and manganese and minerals lie in Australia, the DRC, Kenya, Colombia and South Africa.