IMMEDIATELY on the heels of a board spill yesterday, Commissioners Gold’s ousted executive chairman and founding director Chris Battye has announced the launch of a Peru-focused gold operator.
Column 1
0
Chris Battye
Sydney-based Battye and fellow director Wesley Harder were displaced from Commissioners Gold at an extraordinary general meeting by two directors nominated by the meeting’s requisitioners. Battye has since taken up the role of managing director for the newly launched unlisted company, Kinsha Exploration. Kinsha has already started due diligence work on a potential acquisition of a small gold mining operation in central Peru holding an inventory of 200,000 ounces. Mineral veins within the project are reported to host ore grades of 10-15 grams per tonne gold in veins around 1m wide. “Kinsha’s immediate push into Peru is not surprising as we have built up considerable on-the-ground experience there when we took Commissioners Gold, from its Australian Securities Exchange listing in mid-2011 with a focus on gold exploration in New South Wales, into the gold production potential of Latin America,” Battye said. “Our strategy with Kinsha is to acquire selected gold projects in Peru now under due diligence. “The lead project currently being considered is in production and offers solid exploration upside to increase gold reserves.” Subject to those outcomes and the right market timing, Battye plans to take Kinsha through an initial public offering process via an ASX book build. “In the current challenging global equities climate for junior explorers and miners, Peru offers excellent near-term opportunity for small gold plays to be brought into increased levels of production, or reactivated from historic workings,” he said. “Peru is a mining jurisdiction that is well known and well respected, being the world’s eighth-largest gold producer and second-largest copper producer. “Its mining credentials have been reinforced with the recent move by Hong Kong-listed MMG Limited to spend $US5.85 billion ($A6.27 billion) acquiring the Las Bambas copper project.” Some 18 Australian juniors are exploring in Peru, in addition to the usual suite of major mining companies. Battye indicated that Kinsha might also look to the resources-hungry network of Peru’s official Lima-based stock exchange – the Bolsa de Valores de Lima – as a new project funding source.[/table]
CGU Price at posting:
1.9¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
Chris Battye
