27 March 2015
POLO RESOURCES LIMITED
("Polo" or the "Company")
INTERIM RESULTS FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2014
Polo Resources Limited (AIM: POL), the natural resources exploration investment company with interests in oil and gas, gold, coal, iron ore, phosphate and copper, today announces results for the six months ended 31 December 2014.
Financial Highlights
· Total Net Assets of US$114.3 million as of 25 March 2015 (31 December 2014: US$117.0 million).
· Net Asset Value per share as at 25 March 2015 was approximately 27.7 pence per share (31 December 2014: 27.2 pence per share).
Investment Highlights
· Blackham Resources Limited (Gold)
o Blackham Resources' Maltida Gold Project (Polo's combined direct and indirect interest of 7.0 per cent) currently has a resource of 44 million tonnes at 3.3 grammes per tonne for 4.7 million ounces of gold (45 per cent indicated) all within a 20 kilometres radius of its Wiluna Gold Plant. The plant is capable of processing 1.3 million tonnes per annum giving over 100,000 ounces of gold production. The Measured and Indicated resources now stand at 18 million tonnes at 3.7 grammes per tonne for 2.1 million ounces. The Mineral Inventory stands at 5 million tonnes at 2.8 grammes per tonne for 454,000 ounces.
o The time line from Preliminary Feasibility Study (PFS) through Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS) to production is estimated to be 13 months, subject to financing.
o The Wiluna Mine which is now part of the Maltida Gold Project has a refractory gold resource of 22 million tonnes at 4.6 grammes per tonne for 3.3 million ounces. Blackham has engaged a metallurgical specialist to prepare a feasibility study for a test plant capable of improved gold recovery from the refractory ore. This is based on encouraging results from a bench scale metallurgical testing program.
· Celamin Holdings NL (Phosphate)
o In December 2014, Polo increased its interest in ASX listed Celamin, which is focused on the exploration and development of a phosphate project in Tunisia from 12.7 per cent to 33.2 per cent following Polo's participation in Celamin's rights issue that successfully raised A$7.6 million to fund a BFS to advance the promising Chaketma Project.
o The twelve month BFS will be completed in two phases with the first being a PFS focused on upgrading the resource to Measured and Indicated categories to enable the completion of a detailed mine plan. Phase two is the detailed engineering.
o Based on a successful BFS it is anticipated the Chaketma Project could be in production by 2017, subject to financing.
o On 18th March 2015, Celamin announced it was in dispute with its 49 per cent local partner in Tunisia and voluntarily suspended the trading of its shares until it has sufficient understanding of the legal position regarding control of their joint venture operating company.
· Weatherly International Plc (Copper)
o In November 2014, the Company subscribed for new shares in AIM listed Weatherly, a mining, development and exploration company focusing on Copper in Namibia. This brought Polo's interest to 7.06 per cent of Weatherly's enlarged issued share capital.
o Weatherly's heap leach open pit Tschudi Project saw its plant commissioned before the end of 2014 and the first copper cathode produced in February 2015, all well ahead of schedule. Unfortunately this good progress was affected by the fact that recovery from the initial leach pads was below expectation because of contamination from upper overburden materials. This combined with lower copper prices has affected its financial position. Weatherly is quantifying the full financial effects of this and is in discussions with its financiers to determine its financial resources to meet short term needs and loan repayments. Trading in Weatherly's stock remains voluntarily suspended until the company can confirm it has sufficient financial resources to meet its short term needs and loan repayments.
Michael Tang, Executive Chairman of Polo, said:
"We were very fortunate to be heading into this period with a healthy balance sheet, significantly strengthened by cash reserves from our oil and gas investments, which has enabled us to expand our interests in the copper and phosphate sectors.
"In the near term, we will continue looking to grow our portfolio following our strategy to support near- term producers with proven resources, professional management teams and inherent upside potential. However, we are mindful that operating in developing countries could expose us to unforeseen events beyond our control, such as political instability and the recent Ebola crisis.
"However, our emphasis on gathering research and technical assessments in shortlisting sound investment opportunities enables the Company to hedge its risk and offer investors a more balanced exposure to the metals, mining and energy sectors."
For further information, please contact:
Polo Resources Limited
Kudzayi Denenga, Investor Relations
+ 27 (0) 787 312 919
ZAI Corporate Finance Ltd (nominated adviser)
Ray Zimmerman, Peter Trevelyan-Clark
+44 (0) 20 7060 2220
Liberum
Christopher Britton
+44 (0) 20 3100 2000
Blytheweigh
Tim Blythe, Halimah Hussain
+44 (0) 207 138 3204
About the Company
Polo Resources Limited is a natural resources investment company focused on investing in undervalued companies and projects with strong fundamentals and attractive growth prospects. For complete details on Polo, refer to: www.poloresources.com.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
The AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange Plc does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, in this news release are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, statements regarding the future plans and objectives of Polo. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, achievable or recognizable in the near term.
Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements are based on the estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice. Polo assumes no obligation to update forward-looking statements should circumstances or management's estimates or opinions change.
The Company's exploration and investment activities may also be affected by a number of risks, including legal, political, environmental, economic, financing, permitting, commodity, exploration and development and other market risks which are normal to the industry and referenced in greater detail in the Company's 2014 Annual Report for the period ending 30 June 2014, which may be found on the Company's website at profile on www.poloresources.com.
Chairman's Statement
During the period under review, the Company primarily focused on its existing portfolio with the exception of an investment in a Namibian copper producer, AIM listed Weatherly International plc ("Weatherly"). Weatherly's copper portfolio includes two producing underground mines, Otjihase and Matchless, and Tschudi, an open pit heap leach, solvent extraction and electro-winning development project. A further investment was also made into ASX listed Celamin Holdings NL ("Celamin") where Polo subscribed for additional shares in December 2014 as part of a rights offer to allow Celamin to repay outstanding loans and for continued work on its Bankable Feasibility Study (BFS).
Gold
Blackham Resources Limited
In March 2014, Polo announced that it had participated in a share placement in ASX listed West Australian gold explorer Blackham Resources Limited ("Blackham") (ASX: BLK), and that this had resulted in an interest of approximately 4.2 per cent. In May we increased our interest in Blackham which resulted in a combined direct and indirect effective holding in Blackham of 7.0 per cent.
Blackham is an exciting gold project focused on development of its 100 per cent owned Matilda Gold Project in the Goldfields Region of Western Australia. Its acquisition of the adjacent Wiluna Gold Project tenements and well maintained processing plant has positioned Blackham as a near-term gold producer with highly prospective and extensive exploration tenements. The Matilda Gold Project (including Wiluna resources) now stands at 44 million tonnes ("Mt") at an average grade of 3.3 grammes per tonne ("g/t") gold for 4.7 million ounces ("Moz") (45 per cent in the Indicated category). Tenements under Blackham's control cover 780 square kilometres and 55 kilometres of potentially mineralised strike length.
While Blackham continues to carry out resource definition drilling to identify high grade areas and upgrade existing resources to higher confidence levels needed for mine planning it also has engaged metallurgical experts to prepare a BFS for a pilot processing plant that will enable higher than usual recovery of refractory ore from its Wiluna Project. This has been inspired by a successful bench scale metallurgical testing program. The Wiluna resource is significant being 22Mt at 4.6g/t for 3.3Moz.
Blackham is currently pursuing additional funding aimed at delineating additional high grade areas and moving the Project from Pre-feasibility to Bankable Feasibility and into production within 13 months, subject to financing.
Nimini Holdings Limited
We continue to support the Sierra Leone focused gold exploration company Nimini Holdings Limited ("Nimini") in which Polo holds a 90 per cent interest. Both the Mining Licence and Environmental Licence have been renewed and are in good standing.
The prime objective is to progress the Mine Development Agreement to parliamentary ratification; that will require the re-negotiation of certain terms as advised by Government. The continuing cases of the Ebola virus disease has put a hold to our progress. Encouragingly, the rate of new incidences appears to be declining and we are therefore hopeful that with the continuing local and international interventions, the disease will be contained. During this period, the project remains on care and maintenance.
Nimini's draft Preliminary Economic Assessment is being reviewed internally to assess the positive impact on capital expenditure and operating costs of the stronger United States Dollar and lower fuel price. In addition a regional programme will be compiled with the objective of adding mineral resources such that annual production could be increased. It is expected that the combination of these factors will lead to a more robust project.
Phosphate
Celamin Holdings NL
In March 2014, Polo announced it had taken up a placement giving a strategic 12.7 per cent stake in ASX listed Celamin Holdings NL ("Celamin") (ASX: CNL) which has phosphate interests in Tunisia (Chaketma Project). In November 2014, Polo increased its stake in Celamin by participating in a Renounceable Rights Offer as a sub-underwriter bringing Polo's total interest to 33.23 per cent.
The period under review saw a number of milestones achieved in the progress of Celamin's core asset, the Chaketma Project in Tunisia. This included the formal launch of the project's BFS and the achievement of improved metallurgical results, which may have a positive impact on the project's economics.
The Chaketma Project is a significant large-scale phosphate development asset, which comprises six prospects over a total area of 56km2. It hosts a total JORC compliant Inferred Resource of 130Mt at 20.5 per cent phosphorus pentoxide, confirmed from drilling at only two of the project's six prospects. Results from metallurgical test work conducted to date have confirmed the potential for the project to produce a saleable high-grade phosphate concentrate. The project is also well positioned relative to major infrastructure requirements, such as rail, road and ports.
Results from metallurgical test work conducted to date have confirmed the potential for the project to produce a saleable high-grade phosphate concentrate. The project is also well positioned relative to major infrastructure requirements, such as rail, road and ports.
In August 2014, Celamin announced the formal approval of the work plan and budget for the first phase of the BFS for the Chaketma Project. In December 2014, Celamin reported that it is in the final stages of awarding the contract for the BFS for the Chaketma Project, and the award of this contract is pending.
At the time of preparing this report Celamin is in a period of voluntary trading suspension citing in a press release on 18th March 2015 that this situation was brought about due to a dispute with its 49 per cent local partner and that legal advisers had been engaged to resolve the situation.
Copper
Weatherly International Plc
In November 2014, Polo announced its foray into copper through the acquisition of a 7.06 per cent interest in AIM listed Weatherly (AIM: WTI), an emerging mining, development and exploration company focused on copper in Namibia.
Weatherly's Namibian copper assets include the Otjihase and Matchless underground operations and the Tschudi open pit mine which became operational in February 2015. The Tschudi Project recovers copper through well proven heap leach, solvent extraction and electro-winning processing. Despite the start up being well ahead of schedule, the operation has experienced some technical issues with the shallow highly weathered capping which has resulted in a slower production ramp up than originally envisaged. Tschudi is now expected to hit its target production rate in the fourth quarter of 2015. This combined with lower copper prices has unfortunately affected the financial position of Weatherly. Weatherly is in the midst of quantifying the full financial effects of this and is in discussions with its financiers. The company's stock has been voluntarily suspended until the company can confirm it has sufficient financial resources to meet its short term needs and loan repayments.
The Tschudi mine represents a step-jump for Weatherly with copper produced from the mine expected to average 17,000 tonnes annually over an 11 year mine life. In addition, Weatherly holds a 25 per cent interest in AIM traded China Africa Resources Plc (AIM: CAF) which has completed a Pre-feasibility for its high grade zinc, lead, silver and vanadium deposit in Northern Namibia.
Oil and Gas
Signet Petroleum Limited
Polo holds a 42 per cent interest in the private and independent oil and gas company, Signet Petroleum Limited ("Signet"). Signet has a portfolio of oil and gas licenses in four African countries.
With the sale of its interests in Block 2913A/2914B in Namibia to Shell Exploration and Production, Signet's remaining assets include 80 per cent in the Mnazi Bay North licence offshore Tanzania, 90 per cent interest in Block 03 offshore Benin, 87.5 per cent interest in Block C Lake Tanganyika Burundi, 10 per cent interest in Block SL-7A-10 offshore Sierra Leone and a 10 per cent interest in Regalis Petroleum Limited.
Signet is reviewing its options in view of the current depressed sentiment in the oil and gas sector.
Regalis Petroleum Limited
Polo has an interest in the private and independent oil and gas company, Regalis Petroleum Limited ("Regalis"). Regalis holds a direct 7 per cent interest in Regalis and holds a further 4 per cent indirect interest through Signet.
Regalis in turn holds a 72.5 per cent working interest in three prospective exploration blocks in the Republic of Chad for which the company is planning to drill an exploration well in late 2015, subject to the raising of sufficient funds. A major development was the approval of an amended Production Sharing Contract in Chad in which the company has been granted a direct 72.5 per cent working interest in the three exploration blocks. The company also relinquished its interest in Block 2813B offshore Namibia.
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