Bluebird Mining Ventures Ltd, a gold company primarily focused on bringing historic mines back into production, announces its Final Results for the 12-month period ended 31 December 2024.
Chairman’s Report
The asset base of Bluebird Mining Ventures remains exciting and with the various government permissions that are required they each hold the promise of unlocking value for shareholders. Gaining the required permissions is challenging in any jurisdiction and is subject to rigorous regulatory processes that evaluate both technical and environmental standards.
Our focus continues to be on advancing the development of our high-grade precious metal projects, which consists of the Kochang Gold and Silver Mine (Kochang) and Gubong Gold Mine (Gubong) in South Korea, and the Batangas Gold Project (Batangas) in the Philippines.
Our objective of creating long term value for shareholders by bringing our projects into production remains the core proposition of the Board. Whilst progress has been frustratingly slow in South Korea the Philippines has made more progress as the Group seeks to gain a further two-year extension of the exploration period within the context of the twenty-five year mining license. This extension once granted will allow the completion of the required technical and environmental studies as part of the process to secure the two remaining permissions to allow for construction to commence. Our local partners are proving to be invaluable in seeking these permissions.
With an optimal structure in place, we believe we can develop the assets and drive value for shareholders. I would like to thank you for your patience but can assure you we have been doing all we can to make progress. The in-ground value of the portfolio remains constant and something we remain focussed on realising. The Board believes the sum of the parts are not reflected in the share price; despite the delays we have experienced in South Korea.
On a macro scale, the gold price environment is also positive, with many commentators highlighting that geopolitical uncertainty and ever-increasing government debt is underpinning the long-term fundamentals for gold as an asset class. Worth noting is that the current gold price of over USD 3,000 per oz is a significant premium to what the gold price was when preliminary economic analysis was undertaken for our projects.
The Company has undergone significant changes to its Board during the period. In July both Charles Barclay and Clive Sinclair-Poulton stepped down from the Board and Colin Patterson moved to Non-Executive Director. Subsequently after the period, Colin stepped down from the Board after the period for family related reasons and Aidan Bishop became Interim CEO. I would like to thank Colin who has been an invaluable part of the team and has invested considerably over the years, and on behalf of the Board, I wish him well. I am pleased that he continues to be a supportive shareholder. Furthermore, I would like to thank both Charles and Clive for their contribution in the development of the Company and wish them both well in their retirement. The Company is currently actively seeking to recruit an additional member to the Board as well as a CEO with the appropriate technical and industry expertise.
Jonathan Morley-Kirk
Chairman
Interim Chief Executive’s Comment
With many of the general operations and corporate issues covered in the Chairman’s report, I want to take this opportunity to draw to shareholders attention the Batangas project, being the first project in the portfolio when the Company listed in 2016.
Shortly after listing the development of the Batangas project was put on hold due to a change in Government in the Philippines with the investment in the project being written down to USD Nil in 2019. This project has since “come back to life” largely due to the fact that when the government changed in 2022 a far more supportive approach was taken towards the mining industry as a whole.
The entire Batangas project area has a total JORC compliant resource of 440,000 ounces, including a maiden ore reserve of 128,000 ounces (including silver credits). The high-grade Lobo area is now the focus due to its abundance of data, high prospectivity and two 25-year Mineral Production Sharing Agreements.
Lobo has an initial Probable JORC Compliant Ore Reserves of 171,000 tons at 6.6 g/t for 36,000 ounces of gold excluding silver credits based primarily on the Southwest Breccia area of the licences, which can be mined in the first 18 months of any operation. There is an Indicated resource of 82,000 oz au that is perceived as easily convertible.
Our local partner has commenced the technical and environmental work that is required for the remaining two permissions that will enable the project to move into production. Once the renewal of the two-year period is granted it is expected that this work will be completed during this period. Once the remaining permissions have been granted, Batangas then has “the green light” to go into production. The Directors have thought it prudent that Batangas remain impaired to reflect the historical challenges with permitting and the requirement for the key permissions to enable the project to enter the construction phase. The Board will reconsider this position upon the key permissions being granted.
Moving beyond exploration to production is a lengthy phase for any mining project. In South Korea the Company has underestimated the timeline at its projects. That being said, both Gubong and Kochang have granted ‘Mining Rights’ and maintain significant value. The Board remains optimistic to be able to advance these projects this year.
The Group is fortunate that it benefits from a small cash burn. In October 2024 the Company announced raising GBP 350,000 through equity and debt funding. The debt funding portion of this funding is provided to the Company monthly and provides adequate funding for the Company until Q4 2025.
I would like to thank shareholders for their continuing endurance as we seek to progress towards gold production. I would like to close with the comments of Colin Patterson who stated that “I still firmly believe that the projects are excellent and at today’s gold price would be hugely profitable when given the opportunity to develop them.” To this end, I echo Colin’s sentiments and hope that 2025 becomes the year where value can be finally unlocked for all shareholders.
We look forward to updating shareholders on our progress as the year advances.
Aidan Bishop
Interim Chief Executive Officer