Junior miner targets $2bn market cap in two years
miningweekly.co.za
US-listed mining junior Centurion Gold Holdings aims to become a $500-million to $2-billion market-capitalisation company within the next two years, says CEO Dale Paul.
As part of its acquisitive strategy, the company will attempt to focus on shallow low-cost operations as well as above-ground reclamation and rehabilitation operations.
To date, the South African mining and mineral-processing company has bought assets in Gabon, Mali and Angola through its attainment of UK-based resource company Rovagold.
Centurion’s current portfolio and future focus include gold, platinum and chrome, as platinum is often found in this mineral, as well as any near-to-production assets, such as the recently-acquired Zaaiplats Tin Mining.
“We are also talking to some mining majors in South Africa,” says Paul.
Although he does not mention the companies concerned, Paul says that Centurion Gold aspires to add value to some of the majors’ mining operations and to lower their cash operating costs by having little office infrastructure and outsour-cing labour.
He wants to build Centurion Gold into a world-class gold and platinum company and to actively start exploration projects in what the company believes are untapped resources in Africa. Centurion Gold listed on Nasdaq in March 2003 and reversed-in its first asset – Omaruru Minerals – in June that year.
In October 2003, the company reversed-in Sellies and, in December, it reversed-in its Marikana chrome operations, in Rustenburg.
In March last year, Centurion reversed-in Primrose mine, and that is when the company started produ-cing revenues, says Paul.
It has been producing revenues for just over a year now, but has still not made a profit, he adds.
However, a profit is expected by March next year.
“We have increased production in Primrose through leveraging our own operations and acquiring nearby mines in the Witwatersrand basin, and we hope to push production to over the 50-kg mark within the next fiscal year,” Paul tells Mining Weekly.
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