News

November 27, 2008

Volta Resources Positions Itself As The West African Gold Consolidator Of Choice

By Alastair Ford

“The merger of Birim and Goldcrest was just the first step in consolidation. There’s a lot of fragmented ownership of projects in West Africa, and a lot of opportunities for acquisition”. So says Kevin Bullock, president and chief executive of Volta Resources, the company that eventually emerged from the combination of Birim and Goldcrest earlier in the year. In fact it’s probably not unfair to say that right now there are a lot more opportunities than even the new board at Volta anticipated when it originally put the merger deal together with a view to creating a larger West African consolidator. Volta has what management calls “six quality projects” of its own, including two that should have 43-101 resource numbers on them by the end of the first half of next year. There are also a few earlier stage projects lurking in the periphery. But perhaps more to the point in this market, the company also has six confidentiality agreements running with companies with which it is looking to do deals. And Kevin Bullock has no doubt, as these troubled markets roll on, that Volta will go into more talks, and sign up to more confidentiality agreements.

From Volta’s point of view the thinking is simple. Volta has around C$6.5 million in the bank, and also boasts around C$3.5 million worth of shares in Australian gold miner Apex Minerals. It has the ability to issue new shares. It has a team that is experienced not only in bringing new mines on stream, but also, as recent history shows, in completing successful corporate transactions. And it’s operating in an environment where judicial decision-making and a pragmatic approach to dealflow could...