The Jupiter Mines Ltd (ASX: JMS) share price is gaining today despite the large drop in the All Ordinaries Index (ASX: XAO) index. The Jupiter share price is rising as the company released its quarterly report for the second quarter of FY21. The Jupiter share price is currently trading 1.85% higher at 27.5 cents.
What Jupiter does
Jupiter is an Australian mining company which has a 49.9% interest in Tshipi é Ntle, an independently operated, manganese mining company operating in the Tshipi Borwa Manganese Mine in South Africa.
Manganese is widely used as an alloy to reduce the brittleness of steel and improve its strength. Other uses of this mineral include in battery cathodes, as micronutrients in animal feed and in water treatments, textiles and fertilisers.
Jupiter also has two, 100% owned iron ore projects in the Yilgarn region of Western Australia.
Quarterly report
The Jupiter share price is edging higher today as the company released a largely positive quarterly report.
Despite overall mining volumes being behind plan due to continued delays resulting from COVID-19, all other operations continued as usual and, as such, production for the quarter once again exceeded the adjusted plan for both high and low grade ore.
Furthermore, logistics were ahead of plan for the quarter, with Tshipi's performance continuing to improve its rail volumes. However, road and shipping volumes were both constrained, due to 148,000 tonnes of August exports rolling over into September. This also resulted in net cash from operations being significantly reduced.
As a result, the company saw net cash from operating activities slump to -$9.3 million. This was well below the $86.3 million achieved at this time last year.
In contrast, sales revenue saw a jump to $154.1 million, up from $52.3 million in the first quarter. Nonetheless, this result is still behind last year's quarter two result of $185 million.
What now for the Jupiter share price?
The Jupiter share price is still down a little over 5% so far this year, however it continues to outpace the All Ords.
Jupiter's attributable cash balance was $76 million at the end of the quarter demonstrating solid resilience to the pandemic. This is largely thanks to its 49.9% share in Tshipi's cash reserves as its mine continues to perform resolutely.
Despite today's rise, the Jupiter share price is currently 31% lower than this time last year.
