Robert Tyerman1 Jul 2015 00:01
Goldstone Resources - a recovery punt for the bold says Robert Tyerman
West Africa-focused AIM dog Goldstone Resources (GRL) is waiting for imminent infill auger probing results from Homase in Ghana before it drills to expand the gold prospect’s near-surface oxide resources from 100,000 oz. to towards a hoped-for 250,000 oz. in line with the strategy adopted by 33.4% shareholder and fellow AIM counter Stratex International (STI). Goldstone, whose shares at 2.62p (following a one-for-10 consolidation last autumn) have plunged 99% since their 2004 float, is hoping to add significantly to Homase’s present resource of 602,000 oz. at a low grade of 1.77 grammes of gold per tonne of ore, as it seeks joint venture partners to participate in -- and fund -- its other projects in Senegal and Gabon.
Stratex, whose chairman David Hall is also now also chairman of Goldstone, paid £1.25 million to buy into the company in October at no less than 6p a share, with warrants exercisable at 7p to lift its holding to 50.1%, and has decided Goldstone, currently still steered by chief executive officer and former South African mining lawyer Jurie Wessels, should concentrate on Ghana after setbacks with its other ventures. Now valued at a mere £1.6 million, Goldstone, which lost a reduced £1.2 million in the 10 months to December with £1.6 million still in the bank (following a financial year-end change), recently decided to increase its stake in Homase from 65% to 90% at a cost of $25,000 (£16,000) and, says Hall, hopes the oxide resource there can yield 40,000 to 50,000oz. a year for five or six years with no recourse on that account to shareholders.
In recent years, Goldstone has faced a raft of problems, notably the withdrawal of fully-listed Randgold Resources from its joint venture at Sangola in Senegal on the grounds that it was too small. The company is on the look-out for a new joint venture operating partner in Senegal and also in Gabon, where it retains two licences, at Ngoutou and Oyem, but where Hall argues the projects look too costly and the regime too bureaucratic for comfort.
Goldsone has changed its board and cut directors’ rewards and other overheads since Stratex came aboard and recently appointed Strand Hanson as AIM nominated adviser and broker. The company is receiving technical support from Stratex, having lost a key technical player not so long ago.
Hall suggests an underground resource with much higher gold grades of six grammes a tonne or more lurks beneath the oxide deposit at Homase, which is near Ghana’s multi-million oz. but problematic, Obuasi gold mine, where AngloGold suspended operations last year. He hints Goldstone might consider doing a joint venture in Ghana as well and could also contemplate other projects in the country.
The shares would have to treble to make Statex’s warrants worth exercising by the deadline of next April. With their attendant risks, they
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