John Harrington | Proactive Investors
After a disappointing year last year Triple Plate Junction is on the look-out for new projects, but nothing yet has taken its fancy.
Chairman Tony Shearer admitted that none of its joint ventures in the year to 31 March 2013 worked out as well as it hoped, despite a good deal of money and expertise being spent on them.
Triple Plate Junction (TPJ) has been cutting back on its operations and conserving cash after its major gold mining partners scaled backed operations in Papua New Guinea.
The company is hoping for better luck with its next lot of ventures, though it has yet to determine what those ventures might be. One option under consideration is to explore parts of the Papua New Guinean projects that Barrick, Newcrest or Newmont do not want to pursue. However, the board is aware that the costs of operating in Papua New Guinea may be too high for TPJ to fund on its own.
An alternative option is for the group to pursue gold exploration opportunities in other parts of the world where TPJ executives have considerable expertise.
“No opportunity has yet crystallised that the board believes represents an acceptable balance of the upside with the risk and dilution for shareholders, but it continues to consider a number of opportunities,” Shearer said.
Cash currently stands at around £1.2mln, while total liabilities stand at £50,000. On balance the board considers that the group has adequate financial resources to see it through to the end of calendar year 2014.
In common with many early stage explorers, TPJ has no revenue other than finance income. In the year to 31 March 2013, loss before tax was £4.82mln, versus a loss the year before of £4.44mln.
Papua New Guinea Mine Watch 