News

April 16, 2009

Vatukoula Gold Mines Finally Gets Its Fundraising Away And Will Now Work Towards Doubling Gold Production

By Alastair Ford

“We’ve had some fun and games”, says Dave Paxton of Vatukoula Gold Mines, with a slight hint of relief in his voice. When Minesite rings him up and leaves a message after news of Vatukoula’s most recent fundraising comes through, Dave phones back pretty sharpish. This is partly, no doubt, because he wants to talk up the additional potential that Vatukoula now offers investors, given that it has a further £3.8 million in working capital to further develop its operating flagship gold mine in Fiji. But it’s also, as he candidly admits, because he’d quite like to put behind him all the corporate shenanigans that raising the money in London has involved. Shareholders past and present have by turns thrown up roadblocks and helped the fundraising on through. Dave Paxton would still like a bit more money for a fully comprehensive refurbishment of the Vatukoula operations. But what he’d like even more is to be able to get back down on the ground, and focused on operating a mine.

Perhaps it was never going to be simple running a company that Dave Lenigas is involved in. But to be fair, it wasn’t big Dave that blocked Dave Paxton’s plans. Rather it was a Canadian investor called Walter Berukoff, a man who, according to his own corporate material “has built a solid reputation as a mining entrepreneur”. Perhaps we’re being overly cynical here on Minesite, but it always looks slightly odd when one person tries to tell another what his or...