adminresulted in a US$13,6 million liability, of which US$7 million has been paid through the delivery of finished metal.
“The remaining US$6,6 million balance is included in the (RioZim) balance sheet as a long-term debt,” said RioZim in a statement.
“This termination should see Empress Nickel Refinery reverting to being a principal in the refining of matte supplied by BCL of Botswana and marketing the resultant copper, nickel, PGMs and cobalt cake on the international markets.” RioZim said.
The company said this would enable it to market the refined metal on global markets on better terms.
While the debt to AG Centametall is long term, RioZim remains trapped in a huge debt crunch, considering the US$51 million in short-term borrowings on its books.
Due to its almost US$60 million debt the company paid US$6,3 million in finance costs, pushing it into loss.
In the ensuing period, RioZim said it did not receive matte for processing, resulting in low production at its refinery.
“The refinery remained marginally profitable due to the sale of its own finished metal stocks and significant savings in distribution costs,” it said.
Although RioZim posted a US$1,5 million operating profit in the interim to June 2012, from US$1,3 million the corresponding period last year, the firm suffered a
US$4,9 million loss after tax.
Improved gold prices on the international markets resulted in an improvement in revenue from US$37 million to US$37,9 million.
RioZim is now on a recovery path after about US$60 million debt owed to local financial institutions almost forced the firm into judicial management at the beginning of this year.
But it received a lifeline from Mauritius-based investment firm GEM Raintree that injected US$6,6 million through a private placement and US$5 million through a rights issue. The fresh capital injected in the second half of the year resulted in the renegotiation of payment terms with local banks and major creditors to mark the recovery process for RioZim.
The company has now embarked on new projects, including a partnership with DRD Gold of South Africa for the evaluation of exploitation of Cam & Motor and Renco dumps.
RioZim has also started exploitation of the Cam & Motor sands, development work and vamping project at Renco Mine, which should see ore production rising by 25 percent.
Retrofitting and upgrading of the Empress Nickel Refinery has started, to equip it to treat high sulphur matte.
Review of the sulphur supplier relationship is being undertaken to ensure that goods and services are procured to best advantage.
RioZim will also rationalise staff costs at its head office.
Online Reporter