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LONDON (Alliance News) - Sylvania Platinum Ltd on Thursday reported a double-digit decrease in production in the second quarter of its current financial year, hurt by water shortages.
The stock was trading 5.9% lower on Thursday at 20.70 pence a share.
The metals producer said Sylvania dump operations delivered 14,907 ounces in the three months to the end of December 2018, a 22% decrease on 19,137 ounces reported in the first quarter.
Production was hurt by significant downtime experienced during November and December at the Lesedi operation in South Africa due to water shortages in the area.
This resulted in the plant only being able to treat 45,800 tons compared to a planned 86,700 tons for the quarter.
The total operating costs for the period decreased 6% in rand terms, however, due to lower platinum group metals ounce production, the cash unit cost increased 22% to ZAR8,672 per ounce, about GBP495.
"Plans have been put in place to prevent a repeat of operations running out of water and to address the mining at Doornbosch, which is now performing significantly better," said Chief Executive Terry McConnachie.
"Current arisings from host mines are also back to normal levels management are focusing on grade planning and uptime to ensure that we achieve our forecasts in the second half of the year," added McConnachie.
Sylvania plans to publish its interim results on February 18.
