Venture soothes concern over Thai ops as Kingsgate runs into trouble

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Metals explorer Venture Minerals moved to allay shareholder fears over its operations in Thailand, after gold producer Kingsgate Consolidated encountered issues in the country.

Kingsgate this week suspended share trading regarding the uncertainty around the renewal of its metallurgical licence for the Chatree gold mine.

Permitting delays have dogged the project, with Kingsgate in March cutting its full-year production expectations at the mine to between 95 000 oz and 105 000 oz, compared with a previous forecast of between 125 000 oz and 135 000 oz.

Kingsgate said at the time that permitting delays had constrained access to various orebodies and placed undue pressure on the ageing mine fleet, while also impacting on the mine plan.

Reports emerged this week that Thailand’s military regime had ordered all gold mining and exploration activities in the country to cease, with Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha blaming a public outcry over health and environmental issues associated with gold mining.

Operations at the Chatree mine were temporarily suspended at the beginning of 2015, after random urine and blood tests of villagers nearby the mine revealed above-standard arsenic and manganese levels. However, an environmental report confirmed that the Chatree operation was neither the source, nor the cause of the elevated arsenic and manganese levels, and Kingsgate resumed mining activities in March of 2015.

Venture told its own shareholders on Thursday that both its granted tenure and tenements under application were for base metals, and were not impacted by the Thai government’s decisions around the future of gold mining in the country.

The junior said that it would continue to focus on advancing a number of silver/lead/zinc targets already identified within its Thali and Pak Yang project areas.