TIDMMML
RNS Number : 7708R
Medusa Mining Limited
10 November 2011
10 November 2011
MEDUSA MINING LIMITED
CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS AT AGM
(ASX & LSE: MML)
Please find below the Chairman's address which will be delivered
at the Company's Annual General Meeting, to be held in the
Goldsworthy Room, Pan Pacific Hotel, 207 Adelaide Terrace, Perth,
Western Australia today at 11.00 am (WST).
For further information please
contact:
Peter Alphonso
Company Secretary
Phone: +618 9367 0601
Website: www.medusamining.com.au
CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS - MEDUSA AGM 2011
10(th) November 2011, 11.00 am (WST),
Goldsworthy Room, Pan Pacific Hotel,
207 Adelaide Terrace, Perth, Australia
Dear shareholders,
My name is Geoff Davis and on behalf of my fellow Directors, I
welcome you to this, the 8th Annual General Meeting of Medusa
Mining.
In June 2011 the Company's Board was re-structured concurrent
with its delisting from the TSX where the Company had not achieved
the ownership of shares in Canada that we had anticipated. Mr Peter
Jones my predecessor retired as Chairman and on behalf of the
Board, we thank Peter for his contributions.
Mr Roy Daniel who joined us in 2005 as Director and CFO, stepped
down from the Board to ensure compliance with corporate governance.
Roy continues as CFO and I thank him for his support as Director,
particularly during the extensive travelling and hundreds of
Company presentations together.
The Board also wishes to congratulate Mr Peter Hepburn-Brown on
his appointment to the role of Managing Director in June this year.
We have no doubt that Peter has the necessary mining experience and
skills to undertake and deliver the expansion envisaged for the
Company's growth through to 2015 and beyond.
In addition, we welcome Mr Jun Angeles to our Board. Jun, a
geologist with a wealth of exploration knowledge and experience,
will provide invaluable guidance to our exploration team, and also
in the area of training particularly to the younger members of the
geological team.
A wise person once said that mining is a "marathon not a
sprint". Bearing this in mind, in February 2012, it will be 10
years since Medusa was incorporated, initially as an unlisted
entity, before being admitted to the ASX in December 2003. We can
look back over nearly 8 years as a listed company with a great
sense of achievement. It hasn't been easy, it never is, but through
persistence and with excellent people here in our small Perth
office of five, and in the Philippines under the astute and
thoughtful guidance of Mr Sam Afdal, we have progressively built a
successful Company around an excellent gold deposit at Co-O.
A very important aspect of that success is integration with our
local communities, by providing employment and community benefits.
With a current work force of around 2,700 people, and at an
estimated multiplier effect of around 8, we are providing direct
and indirect benefits to over 20,000 people. We intend to expand
our operations in years to come which will extend that multiplier
effect significantly. In addition numerous educational and other
community-based benefits are provided directly to a large
cross-section of our host communities.
Our aim is to become a mid-tier producer of 400,000 ounces of
gold in late 2015 and we are steadily progressing to that
objective, initially with the current expansion of the Co-O Mill
capacity to produce 200,000 ounces per year, and through continued
exploration success at the Bananghilig Deposit, the construction of
a second milling facility, again with a 200,000 ounce production
capacity.
We are positive that these two gold projects will not be the end
of the gold story. As a well known broker in London used to advise
his clients "Medusa has the best piece of real estate on this
planet" and we intend to prove him right. To do that, whilst
exploration success is not guaranteed, we have this year budgeted
US$27 million on exploration which keeps 20 diamond drill rigs
turning 365 days of the year, and we intend at a minimum to
maintain this level of drilling for many years to come.
Medusa intends to self-fund all its future Capex out of
cashflow, and at the same time also continue to pay a small
dividend to shareholders. Once all future Capex requirements are
satisfied by cash in the bank, we will definitely review our
dividend policy.
The Company in the last financial year produced 101,474 ounces
of gold at cash costs of just under US$190 per ounce generating a
net profit after tax of US$110 million. The Company had initially
issued a production guidance of between 100,000 to 110,000 ounces
for the current financial year but with mine development taking
precedence to prepare the mine for higher production output in 2013
and onwards and the unfortunate fatality at the mine in late
October 2011, the production guidance for the current financial
year has now been revised to between 90,000 to 100,000 ounces.
We believe the Philippines continues to be an excellent
jurisdiction in which to continue to do business, ably assisted by
its fantastic unexplored prospectivity, a skilled and plentiful
workforce, welcoming host communities and government departmental
assistance.
With no end in sight, the journey to growth continues, and will
continue I believe for some 10's of years to come within our
prospective land holding of 820km(2) as we continue exploring. I
wish to thank all our loyal shareholders, my fellow directors and
Perth office staff, our dedicated managers and staff in the
Philippines, and numerous others in the stockbroking and financial
communities who support the Company's cause.
We look forward to being able to continue reporting the
milestones as we pass them in the years to come, and to providing
tangible benefits to an increasing number of communities in the
areas of our operations.
Thank You
Geoff Davis
Chairman
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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