Sentiment Analysis of the earnings transcript to help figure out if there are any bullish or bearish sentiments that could be gathered from it. We're doing ML and AI based analysis on the earnings call to get some more insights.
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| That shows that Blanket is still a very good asset, cash-generating |
| And with that, also, you've got to be very strong on the culture that you want to [proclive], and what you will allow and will not allow |
| And frankly, given the fact we can see a substantial improvement in the operating performance right now, that itself would not be a reason for canceling dividend |
| I think it works very slightly better than we'd expected, which is good |
| And again, I'll draw your attention to a very strong performance in July, where on-mine costs came in at $715 an ounce, which again, gives us comfort that we can stand behind the full-year guidance of between $770 and $850 an ounce |
| On a more positive note, we've seen some good drilling results from Eroica, which we're going to talk about in a moment |
| And when it does and it's running at full steam, produces a very good funnel of cash |
| And I'll just draw your attention to the fact that July, after fairly intensive management interventions, July did show substantial improvement |
| So again, systematically, we reacted to those issues, which put us in good stead for the third quarter |
| So hopefully, we turn a corner, and July shows that we should hopefully be looking for much better second half the year, the first half of the year |
| It's good that we do export 75% of our gold |
| These production numbers look so great with lower production, but as we move forward, and as our production increases, like it has in July, and so far in August, you can see a great reduction on our on-mine cost now |
| So as I've mentioned, July was a strong month |
| But currently, we have got a very good mix of very, very experienced people |
| So taking forward, we plan to stop the leakage from Bilboes, reduce that cost, produce the on-mine cost balance basis, and improve the on-mine cost number significantly |
| And we've also started the direct export of gold from Zimbabwe to a refiner in Dubai, which means that we've cut the Reserve Bank out of our US dollar revenue stream, which is, sort of optically, very good |
| We purchased Bilboes and Maligreen, and we expect, in the next 6 to 12 months, cash position to improve, as we've paid for all the assets that we acquired |
| And using it for the third year, hopefully, initially, we can budget better and get a better feel for what we will get from solar |
| $8 million is from Blanket, so it shows Blanket's ability to generate cash flows |
| I've said our cash balances should improve now that we've paid for all the assets that we acquired |
| Dana? Dana Roets We were lucky that -- if you look at the workforce at Blanket, very stable, it was very stable, and a lot of experience |
| And we should see some more benefit from solar |
| Similarly, costs for the quarter were very high |
| The solar plant's working well and saving us money from a group perspective |
| And so management is taking urgent measures to improve our performance there |
| But we had the higher grade last year, it helped us, so we had to do more tonnes |
| Good |
| So there's positives and negatives, but you see it everywhere when you sign on new people and you've got to train and coach them to get into the right culture and the way you want to do things |
| And that means that in due course, hopefully towards the end of the year, we will reflect the better of the expect the results, in terms of a new resource statement, which will mean that we're going to be extending the life of the mine, and increasing the amount of material that we can access from the existing infrastructure at Blanket |
| Not every new person you sign is a great fit |
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| Safety has been very disappointing in the quarter, and compounded by an unfortunate fatality, which we announced next week |
| Can we move on, Maurice? Again, so that why -- summary production at Blanket was below target due to operational issues, which Dana will talk about |
| Our revenues are somewhat a bit down from the previous half, comparing at the previous quarter as well |
| And some LHDs and generators has been deteriorated due to the [bow batration] and the [bad bow] we've been experiencing at Blanket |
| The gross profit was substantially reduced, down from $18 million in the second quarter of 2022 to just under $11 million for the second quarter of 2023 |
| Can I ask what is stalling the transition to Central Shaft? I saw, like, in the MD&A, there was, like, commissioning problems with the old power systems |
| Difficult quarter, as I said |
| And some people lost their job because of being negligent, as far as safety is concerned |
| That's due to lower ounces produced at Blanket, and the additional ounces that we produced at Blanket did not increase above those levels |
| Should we get going? So without beating about the bush, it was another very challenging quarter |
| That includes a very disappointing 1,000 ounces from Bilboes, so it's about 17,400 from Blanket |
| On that production cost, on the on-mine cost per ounce basis in the next slide, you can see our on-mine cost was negatively affected, mostly by Bilboes oxide production, of $317 per ounce |
| As did the Zimbabwean dollar, that devaluated in the month of June, while outstanding [Technical Difficulty] liability is between 5% as devalued, and that caused foreign exchange losses |
| It's being negatively affected by other costs, to the extent of $14.3 million for the half year |
| And that was the problem this year |
| And with that, during quarter two, as we systematically sorted out the issues and got into the right places again, then some other issues like trackwork, it was normal operational issues that went for pushing very hard to get to 80,000 ounces |
| From an all-in sustaining cost point of view, there's not much more to add, just modestly, negatively affected by the Bilboes cost that we do not expect to continue trending forward |
| And then at Blanket, the difficulty at Blanket largely relates to higher-than-expected use of electricity, which gave rise to about a couple of million dollars of extra expense there |
| Now, that's always a danger when you sign on new people |
| Now clearly, we are going to have to take measures to address that a lot of it comes down to trying to re-engineer the way people behave in the work environment |
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