Since May of this year, Goldstone Resources Ltd (LON:GRL) have secured nearly £4.2million cash, in order to fund an expanded exploration programme and have also gained a serious strategic partner in Bendigo Mining (ASX:BDG). The Company’s market cap currently stands at around £7.2m (3.2p), or £3m net of cash raised.
Does this price represent value?
Cash aside, the JORC resource at the Homase Permit in Ghana stands at 282,608 ounces, 81% of which is in the measured and indicated categories, within the highly prospective Ghanaian Ashanti gold belt. There is also the Manso Amenfi JV, theSangola Project in Senegal and applications pending for some substantial licences within Gabon.
The markets are currently quite capricious and Goldstone’s share price has not been immune. However with the price of gold as a significant driver and Goldstone’s exploration budget looking well covered for some time to come, we thought now would be a good time to catch up with Hendrik Schloemann, Director of Exploration and Jurie Wessels, CEO.
We put a few questions to them , and as usual, they responded enthusiastically.
MM: Recognising all recent developments, can you outline Goldstone’s exploration strategy?
GRL: Any exploration strategy should be guided by the overlying principles of directing meaningful exploration at reasonable cost to attain value within a time frame that suits the circumstances of the company concerned.
With this in mind our first priority is to focus our work towards enlarging the current Homase resource. This will include testing potential down dip and along strike extensions of this gold deposit. This objective, however, has to be weighed up against the need to better understand the regional geology in the larger area to build a sound understanding of any regional exploration targets. Our programme and budget for the next twelve months have been designed to work towards both goals.
The 4000m drill programme should commence shortly and is mainly focused on proving up extensions of the high grade shoots in the Homase gold resource. A few boreholes may also be directed to confirm some of the historical drill data. The results of the VTEM study will enable us to learn more about the regional geology but at the same time may add additional resource drill targets in the Homase pits area. The interpretation of regional historical exploration information…
