Kibo Mining plc (“Kibo” or the “Company”) (AIM: KIBO; AltX:KBO) the mineral exploration and development Company focused on gold and nickel projects in Tanzania, is pleased to announce its final results for the year ended 30 September 2011.
Chairman’s Report
2011 was a difficult year globally, with turbulent financial markets and confusion in sovereign states particularly within Europe. Against this backdrop I am pleased to report on the excellent progress Kibo has made during the year in broadening its gold and base metal exploration portfolio in Tanzania through acquisition, successfully financing the Company, de signing and implementing a major exploration programme, diversing its access to market finance, reorganising its management team and rationalising its development programme to focus on critical economic value without excessive operational risk. The earlier part of the year was dedicated to the upgrading of the Company’s ground holding and accessing finance. Currently the Company is embarked on an extensive exploration programme with three field exploration teams operating on all of the Company’s projects in Tanzania.
During 2011 Kibo added an additional 11,622 square kilometres of highly prospective gold and base metal exploration ground to its portfolio through the acquisition of Morogoro Gold Ltd. This has moved the Company into a strong position in Tanza nia with large ground holdings in established and developing gold and base metal areas. It gives the Company the ability to finance its operations through joint ventures as well as through the markets. Field work has commenced and we look forward to receiving results from our exploration programs as we move through 2012. Some areas held by the Company are under review for joint venture to third parties. Other areas may be relinquished in order to focus on the fieldwork on the main targets. It is p lanned that both processes will be completed by mid 2012.
On 30 May 2011 the Company shares were listed on the JSE AltX in South Africa in order to enhance its ability to fund its on-going exploration programme in the medium term. The listing and subsequent share placing raised approximately £1.1 million. This money is being used to fund the first stage of the Company’s three year exploration strategy on its Tanzanian exploration portfolio. Extensive nickel anomalies from soil sampling and trenching have already been identified on just one small part of a 70 kilometre long zone within the Haneti project which also shows promise as a gold target, where there is active artisanal mining. Reconnaissance geology mapping suggests the possibility of larger scale gold occurrences in a number of the artisanal mining areas.
In light of the above developments the Board has decided to restructure its executive management team. Louis Coetzee was appointed the interim CEO in November 2011 to maximise the corporate development of the Company in Tanzania and to oversee the financial development of the Company. Noel O’Keeffe has taken on the role of Exploration Director. This will facilitate a more focused approach to the overview and supervision of the large portfolio of Company projects. An important decision the Company had to make was the imminent requirement to exercise its option to acquire 100% of the Itetemia and Luhala projects in the Lake Victoria district. While the Itetemia project held out the prospect of early cash flow through the development of a small open pit mine, the Company decided that the operational risks and capital exposure for Kibo involved with these projects were unacceptable. The Morogoro acquisition has provided the Company with a dominant exploration presence in the major gold exploration districts in Tanzania. This provides us with the potential for exponentially better returns on our investments than could have been derived from the Itetemia and Luhala projects, should they have been acquired under the contracted commercial terms. For these reasons we informed Tanzanian Royalty Exploration Corporation that we would not be exercising the option.
In conclusion, despite 2011 being a difficult year for our industry, the company is set fair for exploration success with both its gold and nickel projects. I would like to thank management especially our former CEO Noel O’Keeffe who has had the task of steering the Company through the regulatory compliance resulting from the merger and acquisition activity during the year. He now has the challenge of sifting through the very large licence portfolio to optimise the value of the Company. Louis Coetzee, who has recently taken over the mantle of CEO will, with his twenty years of working in Tanzania, prove to be a valuable asset for the Company. I would also like to welcome Tinus Maree and Wenzel Kerremans to the Board who were both appointed during 2011. They also bring a wealth of African experience to help drive the business and I look forward to working with them and the other directors and staff in growing the Company over the next twelve months.
Christian Schaffalitzky
Chairman
Dated 30 March 2012
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