Pelangio Exploration Advances Gold Resources in Mining-Friendly Ghana
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By Dr. Allen Alper
on 4/30/2014
The Metals News team spent some time with Ingrid Hibbard, President and CEO of Pelangio Exploration (TSX: PX) at the recently held PDAC conference.
Said Hibbard, “Pelangio is a Canadian exploration company. We are focused in Ghana, West Africa. Ghana is one of the most stable countries in all of Africa. More five million ounces have been found and brought into production in the last 15 years in Ghana than in anywhere in the world. There has been mining there for centuries so it is a mining-friendly jurisdiction.”
The Pelangio team is using the same strategy used by other successful gold companies. Said Hibbard, “We are taking the strategy we employed previously at Detour, which is now one of Canada’s largest gold mines, to acquire large land packages on very prolific gold belts in very stable jurisdictions. Ghana meets those requirements. We have over 500 square kilometers now in Ghana spread over three projects. Our most advanced project is the Manfo project. We have been on it for several years and in that time we have taken in from complete grass roots to last summer we came out with our first resource of 195,000 ounces in the indicated story and an additional 298,000 ounces in the inferred category.”
This is not the only discovery that has been made. Said Hibbard, “From grassroots, we have made seven discoveries, and have developed an initial resource on three of those discoveries. There are at least ten other targets over the nine kilometer trend. Our strategy is to acquire big land packages because it gives you a chance, once you understand the geology, to really develop something meaningful. We have a very experienced team. Warren Bates and I are the core of that team in Canada. We have a track record of success and a proven strategy. We also have an excellent local team. Our Ghanaian country manager has a background in geology and an MBA. We’ve got about 190 million shares outstanding, with no warrants left outstanding There are only compensation options left outstanding since we don’t pay our Directors. Therefore, at this point in the market cycle, we are able to conserve cash. Most of the directors have been with us for years and they are invested in the process.”
Hibbard believes that Pelangio has a unique tact during market downturns. She said, “One of the things that differentiates Pelangio is that we can find opportunities at the bottom of the market. Because we already had three land packages, at the bottom of this market, getting more land wasn’t the focus. We were looking for a drill rig that had a small footprint. We arranged to have the rig brought in to Ghana. Locals find it hard to start a business because the interest rate is around 30%. We arranged the financing, which gave them an opportunity and we held a small interest. This arrangement provides that they will drill for us at cost for the next three years. We are very well set up for the future.”
Pelangio Exploration Inc.
4139 Britannia Road, Burlington, ON
Canada L7M 0R8
Investor Relations
Tel: 905-875-3828
Toll Free 1-877-746-1632
Email: info@pelangio.com
Tel: 905-875-3828
Fax: 905-875-3829
Toll Free: 1-877-746-1632
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