JSE and AIM-listed Jubilee Metals, previously Jubilee Platinum, says it sees a better future in copper compared to chrome following the sale of its local chrome and platinum group metals (PGMs) outfit in 2025.
Jubilee, chaired by former ANC treasurer-general Mathews Phosa, is pivoting from being only a chrome processor to being a small copper mining company in central Zambia, where it aims to produce 25,000 tonnes of copper a year.
Finance director Jonathan Morley-Kirk told Business Times the move to exit the local chrome and PGM assets was more about the dynamics around chrome as a metal rather than a reflection of South Africa as an investment destination. “It wasn’t a case of disliking South Africa, and it wasn’t a case of going to Zambia because it was better.”
Copper is a much more stable commodity. If we look at the commodity, there seems to be much more demand, especially building demand, than there are new mines coming online, so demand is forcing up pricing, which is good.
— Jonathan Morley-Kirk, finance director
He said the group turned its back on chrome, used as a hardening element in the production of stainless steel, as copper offered a more stable and liquid global market with high demand. “Copper is a much more stable commodity. If we look at the commodity, there seems to be much more demand, especially building demand, than there are new mines coming online, so demand is forcing up pricing, which is good. So it’s a good, solid market, because you can trade it anywhere, unlike chrome,” Morley-Kirk said.
Jubilee extracted the chrome and small amounts of PGMs from processing plants in the Bushveld Complex but sold its South African chrome and PGM assets for $90m (R1.4bn) to One Chrome a year ago and rolled over trade finance loans, resulting in an enterprise value of $146m.
Reflecting on assets it previously owned in South Africa, Morley-Kirk said the group’s structure as a chrome processor meant it lacked technology advances to absorb costs, particularly electricity. “Technology advanced very rapidly. That’s great for South Africa, but when you don’t own your asset, you need technological advances to take more and more of the chrome content out. With all these costs, electricity is, in particular, very expensive. It was just dying to go.”
Morley-Kirk said chrome was a mature market dominated mostly by Chinese buyers with volatile non-exchange-traded prices that made it impossible to hedge or pass costs to customers. “It’s dominated by the buyers, and they’re all Chinese, and they would drive the prices up or down, and if you get a big cost increase — say, Eskom electricity prices, 10% for example — we couldn’t put that increase onto our selling price. We’re just restricted to what the market would pay. So, it was very difficult,” he said.
Nevertheless, Jubilee’s chrome processing business had strong growth, producing 2-million tonnes of chrome a year from 180,000 tonnes a year four years ago.
Going forward, Jubilee is aiming to make a dent in capacity and growth in Zambia, one of Africa’s biggest copper hotspots, where it operates the Sable Refinery, open-pit mining operations at Molefe Mine, and its Large Waste Project.
There’s a lot of running room to build up a resource. We’ve been mining those for a couple of years. It’s going pretty well. The grades are good. So we’re unusual for a small-cap miner that we’re already producing. We’re going about it in a bit of a catch-up way, and we will get there, I’m sure
— Jonathan Morley-Kirk
He said the Molefe Mine, where the group has been mining for years — currently covering 400 hectares — had strong prospects after the company bought up lots of other licence areas around it, amounting to more than 20,000 hectares.
“So there’s a lot of running room to build up a resource. We’ve been mining those for a couple of years. It’s going pretty well. The grades are good. So we’re unusual for a small-cap miner that we’re already producing. We’re going about it in a bit of a catch-up way, and we will get there, I’m sure.”
Morley-Kirk said while work had been done to upgrade the concentrator, the main work was expanding Molefe Mine. “Production isn’t really our key at the moment. Obviously we have production. We want to slowly build it up, which is necessary. But what we’re trying to do is get the value, and the value comes from the resource.”
While drilling results at the Molefe Mine — scheduled for March 24 2026 — were delayed pending formal sign-off as required under the AIM rules, Morley-Kirk said the production of the report was under way.
“We’re on our second drilling campaign already. By the time the second drill campaign is finished, a third-party competent person will produce a report, and that will be available, and that should give us credibility in the market. People will see that we’ve got a good, solid mine, and it’s been verified by a third-party expert.
“That’s the way small mines work. They find something, drill it out, get a resource, then raise money, and then they produce. We’ve done it a little bit in reverse. We started with production before we had a resource.”
Business Times
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