News

January 26, 2009

Status Report: It’s All Systems Go At Oxus Gold, Allowing For Certain Modifications And Adjustments

By Alastair Ford

A quick call to Oxus Gold, and Johnny Kipps comes on the line. Johnny’s one of the longest-standing members of the board of Oxus Gold, having joined back in November 2002, and survived and prospered during successive reshuffles and kerfuffles. John Donald, chief operating officer, and Richard Shead, non-executive chairman, both have long histories with the company, but these were interrupted by prolonged periods away during the apogee the reign of former chief executive Bill Trew. Only the current chief executive, Richard Wilkins, has been on the board longer than Johnny, and he’s en route either to or from Uzbekistan when Minesite rings up. So Johnny’s the man who takes us through the latest trading statement from Oxus, or as the company’s own press release would have it, the “status report”.

Broadly speaking there are two issues that this “status report” seeks to address. The first is that mining on the company’s projects in Uzbekistan continues apace, and, although funding for expansion looks likely to be significantly curtailed, it isn’t off the agenda completely. The second is that the company’s shares seem perilously low, and in the minds of the directors, there’s no clear reason for this. These two issues are, of course, linked, in that should Oxus happen to be looking for any...