Dave Anthony

SHARES in Ghana’s Asante Gold flatlined last year despite bullion’s record-breaking performance. The reason is that Anthony’s firm has underwhelmed financially. But its standing wasn’t helped by an announcement in October of a $100m private placement, as part of a massive $525m financing package. Anthony characterised the financing as “a breakthrough moment in Asante’s history” but in general, investors don’t prefer equity finance when the paper is lowly rated. In addition, Asante converted debt owed to Kinross Gold – which had sold Asante its Chirano mine – into shares, handing the North American miner a 9.9% stake. 

One of the problems for Anthony has been delivering on his projections. Initially targeting 360,000 ounces of gold by end-2024 from Chirano and another mine, Bibiani, the likelihood is for output at or below 300,000 oz.

Nonetheless, Anthony is bullish. He has forecast gold output of 449,000oz this year as Chirano and Bibiani transition to underground mining, the latter providing 150,000oz of the year-on-year uplift. A bid for Newmont’s Akyem mine in Ghana, which Anthony said truly belonged in his firm, failed, with the mine going to China’s Zijin Mining Group for $1bn. Asante is partly owned by Ghana and represents the West African nation’s desire to play a greater economic role in its resources.

Other investors include a wealth fund belonging to the Fujairah emirate in the UAE, and Emiral Resources, founded by Boris Ivanov, who once headed the international unit of Russia’s Gazprom.