So undervalued26 Jan 2012 23:37
Operational and Financial Highlights 2010/2011
Financial
· Turnover of £47.9 million
· EBITDA of £2.2 million
· Completion of £6 million equity placing through the issue of 4.8 million shares in June 2011
· Cash position of £6.9 million
· Completion of a share consolidation plan in November 2010 to realign the Company's share structure in a manner favourable to a potential North American listing
Operational
· Gold sold was 53,461 ounces for the year ended August 2011.
· Underground ore delivered increased by 40% compared to the previous year.
· The underground development for the year was 24,453 up from 8,720 metres achieved in the previous year. These significant increases are the result of our on-going development programme.
· The Appointment of David Whittle as General Manager in July paved the way for a variety of operational improvements, including:
o Minimising waste from development with split firing technique to blast the ore and waste separately;
o The introduction of truck chutes to reduce the need for underground loaders; and
o The introduction of water cannons in the underground stopes to recover more of the fines.
· Feasibility study completed on the Rarawai power project by the Fiji Sugar Corporation, with VGM in negotiations to secure an off-take agreement..
Exploration
· Mineral resource base increased by 6% to 4.2 million ounces, of which 790,000 ounces are classified as Mineral Reserves.
· Encouraging results are reported from VGM's initial surface exploration programme, which has been designed to provide a preliminary delineation of oxide/transitional material within the current mining leases. 21 holes returned gold grades in excess of 3 grams of gold per tonne. Intersections include 5.14 grams of gold per tonne over 17.55 metres, 12.09 grams of gold per tonne over 5 metres and 3/45 grams of gold per tonne over 19 metres.
· Mine envelope exploration targets the Prince and Matanagata North East (MGNE) flat-makes. Significant intersections included 23.1 grams of gold per tonne over 1.30 metres (Prince) and 9.6 grams of gold per tonne over 0.77 metres (MGNE).