Today, Stratex International (LSE:STI) provided a company update and releases its interim results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2018. We interviewed CEO Tim Livesey where he outlined his vision for the company, and this morning’s update details further progress and board changes. Livesey, alongside CFO Bob Smeeton is refocusing the Group’s activities on early-stage exploration and joint-venture partnerships in Africa and Europe.
As part of the company overhaul, the board are looking to appoint John McGloin and David Pelham as non-executive directors. McGloin has been in the mining industry for almost 30 years, working predominantly in Africa and most recently as CEO of Amara Mining, a company he sold for US$85 million. Pelham has over 35 years’ experience as a mineral geologist in early-stage exploration, and currently sits on the Board of Cora Gold, as well as having recently sat on the Board of Hummingbird Resources. The pair will join the board on 4th September, the day of Stratex’s General meeting. Peter Addison and Chris Worcester will be standing down from the board on 3 September 2018.
Subject to shareholder approval, the board is proposing to change the name of the Company to “Oriole Resources PLC”. The proposed change reflects the repositioning of the Company.
CEO Tim Livesey comments: “Since the termination of the Crusader acquisition last year, the Company has worked hard to reposition itself in the market and we believe we have made great strides in re-aligning ourselves with our shareholders. The change in our non-executive directors and proposed rebrand mark the final stages of this transition, highlighting that we have, over the past 8 months, transformed into a very different company, whilst at the same time maintaining and enhancing our technical credentials.
In its interim results Stratex highlights its operational focusses including interests in Senegal, Cameroon, and Turkey. Cameroon and Senegal will be the main exploration operations for Stratex over the next 6-12 months and the company to be able to release significant news flow towards the latter part of the year as both programmes ramp-up in October after the seasonal rains.
In Senegal, A drilling programme commenced in June at the company’s Dalafin gold project where, in the first quarter of this year, Canadian mid-tier IAMGOLD Corporation signed an earn-in option agreement. IAMGOLD will spend up to US$8m over 6 years to earn up to a 70% interest in the project.
In June, Stratex signed an option agreement with Bureau d’Etudes et d’Investigations Géologico-minières, Géotechniques et Géophysiques SARL (‘BEIG3’) to earn up to a 90% interest in BEIG3’s early-stage gold projects in Cameroon by investing a total US$3.12m earn-in over 4 years.
In Turkey, Stratex has signed an exploration agreement with TET on its Hasançelebi and Doğala projects. Following an initial payment of US$50,000 to Stratex, the licences were transferred to TET, who are now spending US$1.5m on exploration and drilling over 2 years. TET will pay Stratex US$500,000 on delivery of a minimum JORC-compliant measured and indicated gold resource of 100,000 oz at Hasançelebi and Stratex retains a 1.5% net smelter returns (‘NSR’) royalty on both licences. As with a number of our other investments in Turkey, the company continues to manage the exploration programmes at Hasançelebi and Doğala while recharging the costs to their partners.
The group made a pre-tax loss of £3.3m. US$2.7m of the loss was due to an impairment from the cancellation of Thani Stratex Resources’(TSR) licences in Ethiopia. Having raised £1.15m in a fundraise at 0.5p back in June, Stratex’s cash balance as at 30 June 2018 was £2.31m. The company also reports it has significantly reduced its administrative and operational costs during the period to £1.04m compared to £1.49m in the 6 months ended 30 June 2017.
Livesey said: “The first half of 2018 has been a time of significant change at Stratex. With a change to Executive Management and the Board, the Company has been busy consolidating its existing and well-developed portfolio in Turkey, executing agreements for the advancement of the Dalafin project and refocusing on new early stage exploration projects in Europe and Africa, including our exciting new project in under-explored Cameroon.
The completion of a significant earn-in option agreement with IAMGOLD on the Dalafin Licence in March was excellent and we expect strong news flow over the coming months as the results of IAMGOLD’s drill programme come through. The potential of this deal to lead to a defined resource, and ultimately commercial mining, is very real and we believe will add significant value for our shareholders.”