Jubilee deal accelerates platinum project, saves eight million pounds

AIM-listed mine-to-metal specialist Jubilee Platinum has concluded a toll processing agreement with Phokothaba, a subsidiary of Platinum Australia, enabling it to process Dilokong Chrome Mine Tailings at Phokothaba's Smokey Hills Mine concentrator in South Africa.

The agreement, allowing the company to process tailings at an existing plant owned by another company rather than building a processor from scratch, will accelerate the processing of tailings by 14 months and save the company around £8m.

Under the toll agreement, Jubilee Platinum has the exclusive right to process a targeted 40,000-to-50,000 tonnes of platinum-bearing tailings per month from the Dilokong Chrome Mine to produce an estimated 1,600 oz 4E (platinum, palladium, rhodium and gold) in concentrate per month for an exclusive period of eight months, with an option to extend to the period on a non-exclusive basis.

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Leon Coetzer, Chief Executive Officer of Jubilee, commented: "The conclusion of these processing agreements has the effect of bringing forward the targeted processing of Dilokong Chrome mine Tailings by some 14 months as well as avoiding an estimated capital expenditure of £8m for the construction of a dedicated processing plant for the upgrading of the platinum in the tailings prior to smelting the material."

He added: "We are now funded for production of own platinum concentrates in 2013 and can accelerate the development of our next platinum assets in the western limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex."

Jubilee Platinum's share price rose 1.67% to 7.62p at 09:47 on Friday.