News

February 23, 2009

Peninsular Gold Seeks New Acquisitions In Malaysia, Now That It Has Cash Flow And A Strengthened Balance Sheet

By Charles Wyatt

There could hardly be a better time for a junior mining company to commence production and to strengthen its balance sheet. Aim-traded Malaysian company Peninsular Gold has done just that in the last couple of weeks. It boasts further strength in dept too, in that it is run by Malaysians and it employs local people. The chairman is Dato’ Sri Andrew Tai Yeow Kam, or Andy Kam for short. The title “Dato” is one awarded to individuals who have made a major contribution to the state - roughly equivalent to a knighthood, but in the UK knighthoods have been demeaned by awards to apparatchiks made by politicians in recent years. In Malaysia “Dato” retains a real cachet, and adds credibility to Mr Kam’s claim that he is determined to make Peninsular Gold into a successful company. He and his family not only have a controlling interest amounting to 46 per cent of the equity, but he is both chairman and chief executive.

His company’s flagship asset is the Raub gold project near the town of Raub in Pahang, Malaysia. This has been the site of extensive historic gold mining, as well as limited modern operations. Peninsular has now completed construction work on Raub, including a carbon-in-leach (CIL) processing plant, and is using existing reserves of tailings as the initial feedstock. These tailings, stockpiled on site at Raub over many years contain a proven JORC reserve of 202,000 ounces of gold. A gravity...