00:00The underscoring those plans is that you're switching to the New York Stock Exchange main board. So congratulations on that
00:05move to part of the excitement around gold and gold mining has been the price of the precious metal which
00:11has grown a lot. I would just love your view. We're above 5,000 just the sustainability in the gains
00:17of those prices. I think in today's climate is very sustainable. Politics is should we say a little bit more
00:22confused than usual. That's fair. Some of the rules are changing economically. Look at American debt. The
00:29de-dollarization. It all leads towards gold. It all leads to a safety currency and which gold provides. So gold
00:37has been riding high and I think it will continue to do so for some time. It is remarkable because
00:41I remember people talking about like three thousand dollars is when you see some real price destruction that at that
00:46point that there would reach a ceiling. I mean is there that level anymore or is you know gravity not
00:52not applied to the precious metal. I think it's really difficult to say where it's going in terms of a
00:57number quite definitely
00:59it's it's it's where it is. Very strong. It's going up. People will make a judgment. Some say six. Some
01:05say seven thousand. I don't know. So what a time to be expanding operations. And I know Columbia is one
01:12of the places that you have operations. You're also set to expand there. I would love to know how you're
01:16thinking about the politics. You have both a parliamentary and a presidential election coming out. How does that impact you
01:22or how do you shield yourself from any potential impact.
01:25Oh Columbia is very democratic. The present president has one term. He stops in four or five months time. A
01:34new president will be elected. They have a strong strong history of democracy elections. They have a strong rule of
01:41law in terms of business law.
01:43I think a good example of law. I think a good example of that is recently we negotiated a compromise
01:50on an arbitration. Our predecessors were suing the government 350 million for underperformance and not helping get access to some
01:59other territories.
02:01We decided that it was a bit silly suing the host government if we could negotiate. And we successfully did
02:06that. We negotiated and closed the negotiation about three or four months ago. So the government is flexible. It will
02:12respond to business. So a good environment from that point of view.
02:15I mean there has been resource nationalism in Latin America. Chile for example 2023 passed a progressive mining royalty. Peru
02:23has discussed it before. What do you see as the outlook in Latin America for these types of measures.
02:28Well I think looking specifically at Columbia. Columbia is a strange situation because it has a very much in some
02:34ways undeveloped gold industry.
02:36It's ranked about number 40 or 50 in the world. But in actual fact it probably ranks number 10. 85
02:44percent of the gold mining Columbia comes from informal mining.
02:48Commercial mining such as ourselves only account for 15 percent. The 350,000 independent informal miners in gold.
02:57What we have been doing. We found a formula where we work with them. In one area they'd been mining
03:02for 350 years and we now formalize them about two years ago the first group.
03:07And we help them. They have knowledge we don't have. They're part of the community. They're able to work in
03:14smaller areas.
03:15We come in with machinery bigger ideas strategy access to capital. Putting these together working in partnership with them has
03:24been a tremendous success for us and gives us a good form for working in Colombia.
03:28Do you have any discussions with the U.S. government in aiding you. I mean I realize it does not
03:33make sense necessarily to compare anything you're doing to oil operations in Venezuela.
03:37But this has been a U.S. I see I know you're laughing because it is a completely different thing.
03:42But the U.S. I mean you can say they've been active in ensuring that foreign and friendly both Western
03:49and American companies can get resources in the region.
03:52Is this a U.S. government that has discussed anything with you at helping to sort of move operations along
03:58in government?
03:59No, but we're well aware of what's going on both in Venezuela and in Colombia.
04:03And it certainly helps our positioning and helps us in sort of discussing things with the government.
04:09Well, one of the things that you pointed out was there, and I actually didn't realize this, that there are
04:12fewer than 15 gold companies worldwide that produce more than 1 million ounces.
04:17And you're very confident that you're going to be able to join that club. What has to go right to
04:20be able to do that?
04:21Well, when we started four or five years ago, we've acquired two mines, which produced last year 250,000.
04:28We're expanding both. This year we'll produce 300,000, 350,000. In a year to 18 months' time, we'll be
04:34at 500,000.
04:35We have two additional projects, one in Colombia, which has been through full feasibility.
04:41We will be applying for the mining license in about four or five months' time.
04:45And we have one in Ghana, and we're finishing the studies there. I hope we can start constructing next year.
04:53So five or six years, we have a million ounces from our own resources.
04:57And as you say, there's only about 15 companies that produce a million ounces.
05:01So that puts us on a good track, which is part of why the market's recognized in our price over
05:06the last few months.
05:07Is there more consolidation to come? Are you looking also to acquire another gold miners as you move forward?
05:12I think at the moment we have a hands full implementing the strategy that we're following.
05:16It's a very clear, simple and straightforward strategy, easy to articulate.
05:21We're going from 200 to 300 to 500 to a million ounces from our own resources.
05:26Something else will happen along the way, but I don't know what that will be.
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