Zimbabwe’s largest platinum producer, Zimbabwe Platinum Holdings has announced a 2% increase in ore production to 1 708 tons for the quarter to March 31, 2019 from the previous quarter.

Zimplats’ output of 4E minerals – platinum, palladium, gold and rhodium – was also up by 2% to 136 028 ounces.

“Ore mined increased by two percent from the quarter ended 31 December 2018 (previous quarter) mainly due to the improvement in fleet productivity,” it said.

Management however lamented the high costs during the period under review, which rose to $95.4 million from $89.9 million.

“Operating cash cost per platinum ounce increased by four percent from the previous quarter mainly due to the increase in operating costs, which were partly offset by the one percent increase in production volumes,” said Zimplats.

For the nine-months period, the platinum producer said it spent a total of US$1.93 million on exploration activities including drilling, sample assay analysis and geophysics ahead of mining for all the portals.

“There were no fatalities or lost-time injuries recorded during the quarter ended 31 March 2019,” added Zimplats.