Here you go Faz...
A pretty quick response from Martin considering I just sent the email at the COB yesterday. This email provides reassurance IMO. The thing is, I've made my bed, and I'm comfortable sleeping in it. Unless management and IR are lying through their teeth, I don't see a concern with the bills that need to be paid.
In answer to your questions:
The one-time write-down at Namoya was triggered primarily by the fall in gold prices and was required by accounting regulations. This is a non-cash event that has no impact on our cash position or our strategy going forward. Secondary factors for the impairment charge were the impact of the recent financing terms, as the gold streams are not part of the consolidated debt but associated with the asset, and some indirect development costs associated with Namoya.
As for the bond payment: we have flexibility to allocate capital and take other steps to ensure that financial obligations are met as we move through the rest of the year.
I did reply to your question about institutional ownership some weeks ago. We estimate institutional ownership to be roughly 20 to 30 % of total holdings. Obviously, when we complete the operational turnaround of Namoya, we will taking our story to the markets and working to increase that percentage.
We appreciate that investors are not happy with the current share price – and neither are we. No company can control its day to day stock price. What it must do is have the right strategy in place and execute it well. This is what the Company is doing, as shown by our most recent press release. As we are in a position to announce more news about progress on various fronts – production at Twangiza, the ramp up of Namoya, exploration progress, etc, we believe that the market will better appreciate this and the stock will reflect it.
Regards,
Martin Jones
