Better than ore7 Oct 2011 13:20
Triple Plate scoops £2m
27/09/2011 Robert Tyerman
http://www.growthcompany.co.uk/news/1657688/triple-plate-scoops-2m.thtml
Papua New Guinea (PNG)-focused gold play Triple Plate Junction has raised £2 million at 4.5p to maintain its participation in key projects. The AIM-quoted company, steered by chief executive Fraser McGee, a former RAB Special Situations investment fund luminary, has secured the money through broker Daniel Stewart at a 9 per cent premium to yesterday's closing price, as it awaits drilling results in about a month's time from its Morobe joint venture with US gold major and shareholder Newmont.
At present, New York-quoted Newmont has 26 per cent of Triple Plate and 51 per cent to Morobe, which is next door to Harmony Gold's £1.9 billion Wafi project, holding an estimated 40 million oz of gold and 15 million tonnes of copper. After drilling at Morobe's Hides Creek zone next month, Newmont's Morobe stake could rise to 70 per cent as the next phase of the project unfolds.
Triple Plate, which under McGee and ex-investment banking chairman Tony Shearer has lifted itself out of fruitless Zambian projects initiated by previous management, also has a joint venture with Australian miner Newcrest at another promising PNG project, Manus Island. Triple Plate's stake there will fall from 75.9 per cent to 15.2 per cent when Newcrest starts drilling later this year.
Drilling has also begun at Crater Mountain, also in PNG, holding an estimated 500,000 oz of gold, where Triple Plate, named after the geological structure near its projects, has nearly 19 per cent. Elsewhere, the company is also reviewing progress at Pu Sam Cap in Vietnam, where it holds 70 per cent.
Once trading near 20p before the Zambian debacle, Triple Plate's shares collapsed at one point to 0.28p before rallying. Highlighted by Growth Company Investor last November at 5.9p, they now trade at 4.48p, valuing the company at £13.3 million, but could start to make progress again provided recent gold price falls do not dampen the market unduly.