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Archipelago Resources Plc (Archipelago) is a UK incorporated company formed in 2002 to acquire, explore, develop and mine gold and other metal deposits in south east Asia. Archipelago was listed on AIM in September 2003 and as a result of a number of capital raisings has 201,149,334 shares in issue. Archipelago’s registered office is in London but the Company is managed from Perth, Western Australia and all project development personnel are located at the Company’s principal project at Toka Tindung in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Archipelago Resources Pty Ltd, Meares Soputan Offshore Pty Ltd and Tondano Offshore Pty Ltd are Australian registered companies and Pt Meares Soputan Mining and Pt Tambang Tondano Nusajaya are Indonesian registered companies.
Toka Tindung Gold Project
Location: 35 km north east of Manado, Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Ownership: Archipelago Resources Pty Limited 85% through PT Meares Soputan Mining and 85% through PT Tambang Tondano Nusajaya; the Estate of the late Mr Julius Tahija 15% through PT Meares Soputan Mining and PT Austindo Nusantara Jaya 15% through PT Tambang Tondano Nusajaya.
Mine office: David Morrison (chief operating officer - Toka Tindung Gold Project),
Toka Tindung, Manado, North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
Ph: (62 431) 889 5850/5851. Fax: (62 431) 878 5752.
Resources/Mineral Inventory: Resources at Toka Tindung total 1.7m oz of gold and include a mineral inventory of approximately 1.0m oz gold.
Plant capacity: 1.5 - 1.7 Mtpa.
Acquisition & Development: In February 2002, Archipelago acquired an 85% interest in the Toka Tindung Gold Project from Aurora Gold Ltd, in consideration of the grant of a royalty which ramps up during the first year of production to a 0.375% uncapped gross production royalty on 85% of all gold and silver produced by Archipelago from the project (equivalent to 0.31875% of total production).
In 2004 the Company purchased from Barrick Gold all of the core components of a complete gold processing plant located at El Tambo in northern Chile. The plant was dismantled and transported to the port of Coquimbo prior to shipment to Indonesia, in the 4th qtr of 2006. This acquisition of high quality little used equipment, more than adequate for the production rate proposed at Toka Tindung, greatly assisted the Company with it’s project development plan.
In March 2006 the Company announced that Investec had arranged a syndicated loan facility from four banks involving the provision of US$38.5m (subsequently increased to US$42.5m) by way of debt finance together with a US$4m cost over-run facility. Drawdown of the debt facility is subject to conditions including the granting of operating permits and review by the Lender's Engineer.
The project has a resource of 1.7m ozs gold of which 1.0m will be mineable by way of 5 open pits with processing through a centralised CIL plant. The mineralogy of the Toka Tindung deposits is simple with indicated gold recoveries of approximately 94%. Construction work is already well advanced with the target of production by 1st qtr 2009 at a targeted average rate of 160,000 oz of gold equivalent per annum over the first 6 years of production. The project currently has an initial planned life of 8 years which given the excellent exploration potential existing at Toka Tindung, the Company is confident of substantially extending.
Pac Lang Gold Project, Vietnam
Location: 130 kms north of Hanoi, Vietnam
Ownership: Archipelago 65%, VIMICO and Bac Kan 35%
Project: In June 06 the Company announced that following endorsement by the Prime Minister of Vietnam, it had entered into a joint venture heads of agreement with Minerals Corporation (“VIMICO”) an affiliate member of national minerals company Vietnam National Coal – Minerals Industries Group (“VINACOMIN”) and provincial mining company Bac Kan Mineral Joint – Stock Company (“Bac Kan”) to explore for gold and associated minerals at the Pac Lang Gold Project in northern Vietnam. In September 2007 the parties were granted an exploration licence (“EL”) covering the project area.
The Pac Lang mineralised system is located approximately 160kms north north east of Hanoi in the Ngan Son district of Bac Kan province. It comprises a group of gold mineralised quartz veins initially exploited by the French early in the last century which became the site of a major gold rush in 1990-1991 following the discovery of a large quartz vein containing high grade gold mineralisation. Mining activities were subsequently suspended by Vietnamese government authorities apart from some small scale mining by Bac Kan and soil geochemistry by the French government organisation BRGM.
At least 15 gold mineralised mesothermal quartz veins generally less than 2m wide have been identified with a combined outcropping and inferred strike length of 3,300m. The veins are sediment hosted and generally steeply dipping. Many of the veins are clustered and based on previous preliminary sampling (1999) reportedly assay between 0.4 and 49 grams per tonne gold.
Archipelago will be entitled to an interest of 65% in the joint venture and has undertaken to expend US$1.24m within two years from the date of grant of the ELA. Exploration has already commenced and includes a topographic survey to locate all adit portals, stream sediment sampling and the survey by chain and compass and mapping and sampling of over 33kms of underground adits, drives and crosscuts which confirmed the existence of a large gold mineralised system. Work is focussed on gaining an understanding of the controls to mineralisation and determining the extent of the system and potential for and likely location of any remaining and additional economic mineralisation.
Archipelago considers that the experience and multi faceted skills of its employees and their success in progressing the Toka Tindung Gold Project to development, were influential in the Vietnamese authorities’ decision to select the Company as a partner for the Pac Lang Gold Project.
Cam Thuy – Ba Thuoc Gold Project, Vietnam
Location: 105 kms south west of Hanoi, Vietnam
Ownership: Archipelago (majority) VIMICO (minority)
Project: The Company has lodged applications for two exploration licences in the Cam Thuy – Ba Thuoc gold district in northern Vietnam, located on the Ma River fault system, a structure parallel to the major Red River suture, a fault structure which hosts several known areas of gold-copper mineralisation in Vietnam and southern China.
The main targets covered by the licence applications are two large fold structures within clastic and calcareous sediments which are considered prospective for large gold deposits of the Carlin and possibly Telfer style. Outcropping gold mineralisation and substantial unsourced occurrences of alluvial gold occur within the Company’s application areas.
The licence applications have been lodged in the name of Archipelago Resources Plc and VIMICO. In the event that exploration within the licence areas leads to preliminary feasibility work, a joint venture will be formed in which the Company will hold the majority interest.
Corplex Projects, Mindanao, Philippines
Location: North east Mindanao, Philippines.
Ownership: The Company has the right to acquire a 100% interest in Corplex Resources Inc (“Corplex”), a Philippine registered company.
Project: Corplex holds a number of applications for Exploration Permits (EP) and Mineral Production and Sharing Agreements (MPSA) within the northwest portion of the copper and gold rich Surigao peninsular close to the high grade Boyongan copper gold porphyry project owned by Anglo American Inc. and Philex Gold Inc and Red 5’s Siana gold deposit. The tenements include a number of areas of historic gold workings and copper mineralisation and are described more fully in the Company’s Admission Document.
Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines.
| Directors | |
| John Colin Loosemore | Managing Director |
| Michael N Arnett | Non-Executive Director |
| Barry J Casson | Non-Executive Director |
| Yoost Mengko | President Commissioner |
| Terkelin Purba | Director |
| Peter Brown | Director |
| Management | |
| Jeff Dawkins | Chief Financial Officer |
| Dave Morrison | Chief Operating Officer |
| Dean Pontin | Operations Manager |
| Chris Stephenson | Commercial Manager |
| Terkelin Purba | Director and External Relations Manager |
| Peter Johnson | Security Manager |
| Debra Watson | Environmental and Health & Safety Manager |
Company Address17 Strome Road
|
Additional Address/Key ContactRegistered office: |
CapitalIssued Capital: 201,149,334
|
Annual General MeetingJuly | Year End31 December |
Nominated BrokersAmbrian Partners | Nominated AdvisorsGrant Thornton Corporate Finance |
27/08/08 - SITE VISIT AND FINANCE
09/04/08 - AMDAL Approved
17/11/06 - VSA Resources (December 2004)
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