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The major advantage to purchasing a brown field site, as opposed to building a complete new refinery, is that a brown field site comes with a complete suite of services (electricity, water and roads). Of course currently with transport costs now difficult to control, the refinery needs to be near the concentrators upgrading copper waste. At Inyoni the plant both concentrates waste for PGMs by removing Chrome, but it also has the capacity to accept PGM concentrated tails (Windsor PGM or Windsor 8) supply.
Now Mopani I thought was the original site for the upgraded Leopard refinery, advantage it had services already present, also it was close to site proposed for Kitwe concentrator. Mopani I also believe can start on first establishment with a refinery capacity of some 19000 tons copper cathode per year, with provision to upgrade to 35000 tons copper capacity per year. But most Cobalt rich tails(owned by company) are currently in the Mopani region and the refinery needs to be constructed with a Cobalt recovery circuit. Sable can of course recover Cobalt, but the cost of transporting concentrate from North to South must be considered.
Next it became obvious over time, that the final establishment of Roan was delayed by supply chain restrictions. Thankfully LC has chosen to weigh up all options before proceeding with next major capex by JLP, subsequently the company can collect current earnings ready for expansion, and the possibility of a CB cannon exploding with a further issue of shares to fund capex can be avoided.
IMHO the company needs a share consolidation before it issues any further shares onto the market.
SeisNav
Many thanks for posting link to latest LC interview, I had not been able to find up till now. Very informative interview, and I am now convinced all SLP shareholders just need to be patient for the next 6 months, and major rewards will then clearly be in sight.
Thank you, Charles.
We now have an Energy crisis, Food crisis, Cost of Living crisis, plus a Major War created by a maniac in the Kremlin. Further more many counties are still struggling with the Covid Pandemic. Jubilee is no longer operating in the same arena as 6 months ago, and the future looks bleak.
IMHO I believe JLP must give up on Cyprus, put on hold the policy for becoming a global company for the retreatment of mine waste, and concentrate efforts on Zambian and South African operations.
Our new Chairman I think should as a priority, improve communications with the market. JLP is currently seen as a small scale PGMs producer no more, in my estimation.
For PGM's most return is achieved by improving % PGM's recovered in plant, a typical PGM plant recovers about 53% of PGM's present . Now I am sure JLP with their expertise will recover a much higher % of PGM's present, thus it is now a matter of waiting whilst the operations team bed in the new Inyoni plant in order to maximise returns. In the meantime I look for a company announcement regarding establishing a further PGM plant on the WL. JLP already has the advantage that over the years it has learnt how to remove chrome, fine chrome and ultra fine chrome with each step increasing the concentration of PGM's present.
Thanks for info Highly geared. Now obviously as transport costs are not going to revert to historic levels any time soon, the construction of a W.L Inyoni plant is becoming a priority. Also since at current PGM prices JLP makes a more than decent return on its PGM plant, there is little reason to delay this investment.
I for one hope JLP concentrates its efforts in South Africa and Zambia at present, and the policy of creating a Global Metals recovery company is held back at present.
Sorry error in my post below, first East should read West.
I observe that transport costs from the Eastern limb PGMs have doubled. Now is JLP moving large amounts of PGM tails from East to gain advantage of Rh present, with its higher price per oz. Or alternatively is JLP now recovering historic upgraded PGM tails from DCM, these were left over from JLP's ultra fine Chrome plant, long since moved to Inyoni. Obviously the increase in transport costs is not due to local transport of PGM material on the Eastern limb . Perhaps somebody can enlighten myself. I have long since found out that emails to the Company produce zero information.
I listened to LC latest interview on Proactive, and concluded he had perfected the art of saying nothing but waffle. I can find no indication as to what is now happening with Kitwe, Leopard (Mopani refinery), Burgersfort site as possibility for second PGM plant, Cyprus has now thankfully vanished as has Zinc circuit at Sable. How much cash has been wasted on CB dream in Cyprus unknown, as is cost to establish Zinc circuit at Sable.
Last year we had an emergency meeting to enable JLP to issue vast numbers of shares to big hitters. I just hope our new Chairman is going to get info to the market correctly organised. He will need to organise a culture shift within the company senior management.
Here I am with The Gambler 5, now IMHO is the time for consolidation in Southern Africa. The War in the Ukraine was not present when this policy was initially proposed. The World is currently one step away from WW3, and Putin is totally unpredictable, other than saving his own face. Thus I believe this policy should be on hold until War in Ukraine resolved.
Ref. The_Modeller and Cyprus.
In Southern Africa, the old copper belt between Zambia and the DRC, contains billions of tons Cu/Co waste lying on the surface. JLP has shown it has the technical knowledge, to profitably recover these metals from the waste dumps on the old Copper belt. Now here once a copper concentrator is established, plus the end refinery to recover Copper cathode and Cobalt hydroxide built; JLP can expect these units to operate profitably for 25 years or more. On the old copper belt JLP has the vast advantage that it is able to operate on a very large scale. In an inflationary environment the advantage of scale is very important.
In Cyprus my understanding is that for the Copper to be recovered profitably, it will also require the Gold present to be recovered. But LC has told JLP shareholders that the money is to be made in the refinery stage. Thus I would not expect JLP to produce only concentrate, for external sale from Cyprus. Hence I believe that the Capex outlay in Cyprus could be proportionally large just to process a few million tons of Cu/Au waste, spread out over a difficult terrain.
I accept that I could be wrong in my judgement. But currently Cyprus is an ancient rugged Tourist Destination, with limited mining tradition. Whereas Zambia and the DRC, the old Copper belt of Southern Africa, have been mining countries for generations in the present era.
Global Warming is already changing the climate of our planet drastically in some places. Dehli at 49 C has just recorded its highest ever temperature. Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the USA, created by the Hoover Dam, is currently only 12% full. California, Nevada right down to Mexico have severe water restrictions. There is no water for irrigation in California, an area that historically supplied 22% of USA vegetables, no more. And in the short term this situation will not reverse. Severe Forest Fires on the West Coast of the USA are now a regular occurrence. Our World has to decarbonise society now.
Some major metals required to decarbonise society are: Cu, Co, Ni, PGMs. Always overlooked is Sn, required for solder to effect joins, for which there appears no alternative. Co is found as a by-product of Cu mining, and currently the world consumes 20000 Kt of Cu per year. For China, by far the largest emitter of CO2, to go green over the next 5 years will require an additional 7000 Kt of Cu/year. Current output of Cu from mining requires large ongoing investments, just to maintain current Cu reserves. The only way forward is to recover Cu from the old historic mine waste dumps, located around the world.
In Northern Zambia and the close adjacent DRC, historically known as the Copper Belt of Southern Africa, there is at least 5 bn tons of waste. This material is ground and at surface. JLP has constructed one Cu concentrator (ROAN) and created one end process refinery (SABLE), able to produce Cu Cathode and Cobalt Hydroxide, in this area. Mopani refinery is being reconfigured to mimic Sable and renamed LEOPARD. Leopard's supply of Cu concentrate will come from two concentrators to be constructed in nearby Kitwe. On completion of this programme JLP will produce about 31000 tons Cu cathode per year. But for JLP to become a recognised Cu supplier to help decarbonise our Planet, it needs to recover North of 100000 tons Cu/year. This could require a further 4 major Cu concentrators with 2 concomitent end process refineries on the old Copper Belt.
In South Africa JLP has constructed a state of the art PGM recovery plant at Inyoni. But not only has JLP here established new long term well paid jobs, but through initial funding has created Local Junior Miners (Rustenberg region) who now support Inyoni. To be successful in any mining Domain there is a need to include the local population from the start of a project. I look forward to JLP repeating their Inyoni business model in the Burgersfort region.
I see no future in JLP wasting time, effort and capex on a Gold Mine in Cyprus, with Cu as a by-product. Current investment for JLP must surely be in Southern Africa. I invested in JLP to make money, but also to support correct Global mining practices that benefit all persons. Also I look for my investment to have long term positive outcomes.
I feel some non exec directors hold too many non exec posts to always be effective.
Reading the New Non Exec Chairman's CV: I am not a fan of Black Rock; I associate Vale with death and destruction impacted on Brazil in 2015 & 2019: And Antofagasta is copper mining in Chile, with many large social problems.
Beyond M & A focus , I can see little benefit to Jubilee from a New Expensive non exec Chairman.
The JLP share price continues to drift South, and with no Chairman, no effective PR nor any announcements on Copper. Thus it is now a matter of how low the SP will drift.
The latest RNS stated project ROAN is expected to complete ramp up in May 2022, reaching production of 830 tons Copper/month July 2022. I assume the expensive finance director that Jubilee employs has no concern about the fall in JLP share price , although Slater must about now becoming frustrated, and wondering if any info will ever be supplied to the market.
Black Mountain or Mkana sl** dump, for those who do not know, is located within a short distance of Jubilee's Leopard Northern refinery, also at Nkana. Hopefully Jubilee will be able to treat this 20 million toxic waste dump, by agreement with Zambian Government. The copper oxide dust blowing off the dump is very harmful to the lungs. Such an out come would be very beneficial for Jubilee's ESG credentials.
SeisNav
I believe Black Mountain is a 20 million ton **** dump, left behind at Nkana, Kitwe, from a copper smelter. The dump has Copper of 1.2% concentration and Cobalt between 0.35& and 4.5% concentration. I think it maybe possible to hand pick Cobalt from the dump. But illegal mining leads to death and Gang violence.
The locals see Black Mountain as an income source, the Zambian Mafia as a source of wealth and the current Zambian Government as a source to create wealth for all people. But the situation at Black Mountain gets out of hand from time to time, leading to deaths and violence. However Government thinking, now appears to be that Jubilee might take over this waste dump, generating long term employment for a number of the community, leading ultimately to wider economic benefits.
Zambia is in fact a very rich country for natural resources, but corruption, violence and Gang Land control has doomed most of its Citizens to live in abject poverty. Also some of the mining practices of the past colonial era were almost unregulated. And here the UN needs to become involved making grants to responsible bodies, to ensure safety for all people involved with Black Mountain; and welfare payments to local communities at Black Mountain who can not be immediately beneficially employed.
Sable is a centre of excellence for Jubilee, and has a Cobalt pilot extraction plant left over from Glencore. No doubt Jubilee has modified the Co pilot plant at Sable, and is currently testing design mods for most effective Co plant recovery design. But you cannot test a plant with no feed material for testing. There is only limited Co in the Ndola waste dump material supplying the Roan concentrator. Thus for max efficiency one must assume that Jubilee is tracking down high grade Co waste material from its Northern dump site/s to Sable. Sable has the ability to process raw dump tails (Cu oxide or sulphide) with Co as a by product. Obviously how to best recover this Co by product will be worked out at Sable over the next 12 months.
Currently the revenue from Co and Cu is very high, thus Jubilee can afford to truck tails from Northern Waste dumps for experimental processing at Sable. We can all do the maths that 1200 tons Co over 12 months equates to revenue of $8m per month. Now that vision is over the horizon, but a future given, and very useful knowledge for a long term investor in Jubilee.
The Plat Reef of South Africa's Bushveld is rich in Ni/Cu/PGE deposits, and S.A. is a major producer of Ni. Thus we must hope that LC will shortly move into Ni recovery in S./A.
Cobalt is found with Copper, produced as a by-product of Copper mining, never mined on its own. The copper belt which runs through the DRC and Zambia yields most of the world's Cobalt. The DRC produces some 55% of the world's Cobalt, and the Copper mine waste/**** dumps of the DRC and Zambia, scattered along the international border between the two countries are rich in Cobalt waste.
If Jubilee is going is going to continue with its world wide mine waste dump treatment philosophy, then the next area for expansion must be along the DRC/Zambian border. Altogether there could be over one billion tons of Cu/Co waste in this area waiting for processing. The demand for Cobalt is not going to decrease, in fact it will probably double with time.
I regard Cyprus as a Gold/Copper fixation left over from CB and to be avoided. South America is plagued by Social Problems linked to Copper mining, and Europe has Putin on its back. Thus I would wish to see further expansion to produce Cu/Co in the region of the Historic Zambian Copper Belt.
gotreal
I follow what you are saying, but at this stage of its development I do not see JLP spread out as a global mine dump reprocessing company. There are more than enough vast dumps of mine waste in SA and Zambia, without moving to another mining jurisdiction. The venture into Cyprus I regard as a left over from CB.
The issue for myself is that the return on recycling mine waste dumps in SA and Zambia is excellent and process proven,
also management appears to have good relations with Government mining engineers. This situation is the opposite of a company such as Glencore. Further much of the mine waste was created during the colonial days, when minerals such as Copper were recovered entirely for the Western World benefit. And I see it as a priority that the mess of the past should be rehabilitated for the benefit of local communities.
I believe the problem for JLP in this Bear market is lack of info to the market. Shareholders are expected to accept that Roan and Inyoni are operating at design capacity; yet the company fails to publish any current Copper and PGM production figures. No news usually indicates bad news, and JLP needs to wake up its PR department, to tell shareholders what they have a right to know.
Then the company has an Emergency Meeting hanging over it, so L C can issue more shares. Well I voted against this move historically and I repeated my no vote again for the up coming meeting. I see no need for JLP to issue further shares, when LC has assured the market that the company is not going to require an issue of further shares. Either LC tells the truth or he lies.
Thanks for info. JLPpositive, I just wish I had had your knowledge about CB in 2002 when I became a Jubilee Platinum shareholder. Even today Alex Borelli, a regular croony of CB has shares in Kendrick Resources ; I suggest any on this Post Board with Kendrick shares sell out of Kendrick before it costs you cash.
I am very positive about JLP, but currently the whole market is down, with Cu demand from China choked off by Covid, and PGM demand falling due to demand for motor vehicles slowing. Also thanks to Putin the whole world is suffering from ever increasing food prices, the Ukraine was until Putin's invasion a major deliverer of food to the global stage .
We are now all looking at a recession ahead with galloping inflation, but nothing lasts for ever and the World will return to normal, thus hang onto your JLP shares. Also JLP still has increasing earnings, a solid base has been laid for the future.