d8bdbd1f-2f7b-43ed-8948-cd11888d3640.pdf
21 December 2015
POLO RESOURCES LIMITED
("Polo" or the "Company")
RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2015
Polo Resources Limited (AIM: POL), the natural resources exploration investment company with interests in oil, gold, coal, phosphate, copper, iron ore and vanadium, today announces results for the 12 months ended 30 June 2015.
Financial Summary
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Combined total of cash, receivables, payables, listed and unlisted equity investments of US$73.05 million as of 17 December 2015 (30 June 2015: US$77.05 million).
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Net Asset Value per share as at 17 December 2015 was approximately 16.09 pence per share (30 June 2015: 17.70 pence per share).
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Listed and unlisted investments at marked to market value, cost and valuation amounted to US$53.61 million as at 17 December 2015 (30 June 2015: US$49.51 million).
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Substantial decrease in holding company administrative expenses to US$1.71 million (2014: US$2.07 million).
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Loss on ordinary activities after taxation of US$61.2 million (2014: loss of US$19.1 million) significantly attributable to impairment of the Group's investments, including associates, with a total of US$54.6 million written down against GCM Resources plc (AIM: GCM), Signet Petroleum Limited, Ironstone Resources Ltd and Equus Petroleum Plc, and a charge of US$3.5 million against the evaluation and exploration assets of its 90 per cent owned Nimini Gold project in Sierra Leone. This headline figure is not necessarily indicative of a weakening financial performance as such variances are in the very nature of a natural resource investment company whose strategic focus extends beyond a single reporting year.
Investment Highlights
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Blackham Resources Limited (ASX: BLK) (Gold, Australia)
The Company, in which Polo has a combined direct and indirect holding of 10.23 per cent, of which 8.75 per cent is attributable to Polo, now has funding in place to advance its Maltida Gold Project ("Matilda") into production, anticipating the first pour of gold in Q2 2016. Blackham recently released a Pre-Feasibility Study for Maltida and is expecting results from the Definitive Feasibility Study in Q1 2016.
Blackham's key achievements of the last year include:
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Gold resources have been grown to 44 million tonnes ("Mt") @ 3.3 grammes per tonne ("g/t") for 4.7 million ounces ("Moz") (JORC 2012) with Measured & Indicated resources - 20Mt @ 3.5g/t for 2.2Moz Au.
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All resources remain within less than a 20km radius of Blackham's 100 per cent owned Wiluna gold plant.
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December 2014, the Blackham published its initial mining inventory of 5.0Mt @ 2.8g/t for 454,000oz Au which increased to 6.0Mt @ 2.8g/t for 540,000oz Au in October, 2015.
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The mining and processing studies have been ongoing, further de-risking the project whist at the same time aiming to grow the mine life beyond the initial 4 years.
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November 2014, Blackham announced the maiden high grade resource for Golden Age of 0.6Mt @ 6.7g/t for 125,000oz Au.
February 2015, Blackham announced the maiden open pit resource for Bulletin South of 2.6Mt @ 3.4g/t for 280,000oz Au.
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Blackham announced New Iceberg 2, Scorchers and Sixers lode discoveries at the Matilda Mining Centre.
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Hibiscus Petroleum Berhad (HIBI: MK) (Oil & Gas, Australia, UK, UAE, Norway, Oman)
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Polo subscribed 90 million shares in Hibiscus, a Main Market of Bursa Malaysia listed company for US$5 million. The holding represents a strategic 8.4 per cent stake.
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Current development assets located in Australia with an estimated 8.0 million barrels (MMbbls) of 2P/2C reserves/resources.
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Its asset base is set for a step-jump with the anticipated completion of two recently announced strategic conditional acquisitions, 50 per cent of the Anasuria Cluster ("Anasuria") oil and gas fields in the North Sea and 100 per cent of Hydra Energy Holdings Pty Ltd ("Hydra") which has seven operated Petroleum Titles located in the Carnarvon Basin, offshore North West Australia.
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Anasuria is currently producing at an average of over 7,000 barrels of oil per day net to Shell and Esso and has a 40.4 million stock tank barrels 2P Oil Reserves and 27.9 Billion Standard Cubic Feet 2P Gas Reserves together with potential for addition reserves through infill drilling.
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Hydra's assets include 4 having discoveries totalling 15 - 17 MMbbls net to Hydra and on completion of this transaction, Hibiscus' net 2P / 2C Australian oil resource base would increase from 8 MMbbls to 23 - 25 MMbbls.
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With the completion of the Hydra and Anasuria acquisitions Hibiscus' global net 2P / 2C resource base would be circa 47 MMbbls.
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Signet Petroleum Limited and Regalis Petroleum Limited (Oil and Gas, Africa)
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Signet, in which Polo has a 42 per cent interest, determined to wind down its affairs. It allowed its Burundi, Benin and Sierra Leone licences (87.5 per cent interest in
Block C Lake Tanganyika Burundi, 90 per cent interest in Block 03 offshore Benin, 10 per cent carried interest in Block SL-7A-10 offshore Sierra Leone) to lapse. Further exploration at Signet's Mnazi Bay North licence offshore Tanzania, in which it has an 80 per cent interest, will not be pursued.
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Polo received a cash distribution of US$691,000 and an additional balance of approximately US$91,000 is expected in Q1 2016, subject to final determination as Signet's expenses and its liabilities are settled.
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Polo also received an in-specie distribution of approximately 1.89 million shares in private Regalis Petroleum Limited ("Regalis"), which has interests in Blocks DOA and WD2-2008 onshore Southern Chad, and of a further 1.23 million shares from certain other Signet shareholders, as part of the winding down, with a total value of approximately US$6.96 million. These shares are in addition to the 3.5 million shares held directly by Polo and bring Polo's total shareholding in Regalis to 13.67 per cent. In its year ended 31 December 2014, Regalis reported an unaudited loss from operations of US$7.5 million and had net assets as at that date of US$40.1 million.
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Regalis intends to explore its highly prospective onshore exploration blocks and remains optimistic that it will be in a position to undertake the initial drilling programme in due course. It completed a 5,349 km airborne gravity/magnetic survey over the blocks which are on trend with existing and recent Glencore/Caracal discoveries.
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Overall Polo wrote down its Signet investment, net of the value ascribed to transferred Regalis shares, by approximately US$20.6 million.
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Celamin Holdings NL (ASX: CNL) (Phosphate, Tunisia)
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December 2014, Polo increased its interest in ASX listed Celamin, from 12.7 per cent to 33.2 per cent, following Polo's participation in Celamin's rights issue to raise A$7.6 million to fund a Bankable Feasibility Study ('BFS') and advance the promising Chaketma Project.
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The twelve month BFS will be completed in two phases. The first will be 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 stage.
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Based on a successful BFS, it is anticipated that, subject to financing, the Chaketma Project could be in production by 2017.
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April 2015, Celamin updated the market on the dispute between its wholly owned subsidiary Celamin Limited and its local joint venture partner Tunisian Mining Services ("TMS") in relation to an apparently fraudulent transfer to TMS of Celamin's
51 per cent interest in the joint venture company Chaketma Phosphates SA ("CPSA").
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As previously reported, Celamin is seeking the preservation and recognition of Celamin's rights, including restitution of its shares in CPSA and compensation for damages suffered via an international arbitration of the dispute. Celamin is also continuing with various other legal actions in Tunisia including the criminal proceedings and the debt recovery action as previously announced.
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Weatherly International Plc (AIM: WTI) (Copper, Namibia)
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November 2014, the Company subscribed for new shares in AIM listed Weatherly, a mining, development and exploration company focusing on Copper in Namibia which brought Polo's interest to 7.06 per cent of its enlarged issued share capital, now diluted to 5.2 per cent.
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The plant for Weatherly's heap leach open pit Tschudi Project was commissioned before the end of 2014 and the first copper cathode produced in February 2015, well ahead of schedule.
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Initial copper recoveries that were lower than anticipated due to slower leach rates have since been quantified to have no negative impact on Tschudi output rates once design capacity is reached.
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September 2015, production guidance at Tschudi was upgraded by 15 per cent from 1,000 tonnes per month to 1,150, and is on track to hit the projected 17,000 tonnes by year end.
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Tschudi produces some of the highest grade copper cathode in the world in the best mining jurisdiction in Africa.
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Although the Company's financial position has been affected by prevailing copper prices reaching their lowest levels in six years, a deferment of its debt servicing obligations was secured from its loan provider and largest shareholder.
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Ironstone Resources Limited (Iron Ore, Vanadium, Precious Metal, Canada)
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Ironstone raised C$1.04 million towards reduction of debt and completing an SRK Consulting Preliminary Economic Assessment, on its Clear Hills Iron/Vanadium project in Alberta, Canada, which is expected to be completed in Q4 2015.
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Polo's interest in Ironstone increased to 18.8 per cent following an additional investment by Polo of C$101,000 and the operation of a price protection mechanism for certain early stage investors.
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Given the material fall in iron ore prices, Polo wrote down its carrying value by US$6.63 million.
Datuk Michael Tang, Executive Chairman of Polo, said:
"The resources sector has faced much market volatility over the last 12 months, but our healthy balance sheet and exposure to near term cash generating investments has allowed us to stay strong through what has been a challenging period for many companies.
"We continue to follow our strategy of supporting near-term producers with proven reserves and inherent upside potential offering investors a balanced exposure to the resources sector.
"Over the period, Blackham Resources has been a highlight in Polo's investment portfolio with the Pre-Feasibility Study for its Matilda Gold Project being released, the Definitive Feasibility Study expected in the first quarter of 2016 and first gold pour anticipated for the second quarter of 2016.