New Talisman's mine site in the Karangahake Gorge in Coromandel.
New Talisman's mine site in the Karangahake Gorge in Coromandel.
Coromandel miner New Talisman Gold Mines has had its shares suspended from trading on the Australian stock exchange after the company’s auditors were unable to provide an opinion on its financial statements and annual report.
The ASX said in a statement at 8.31pm yesterday that New Talisman’s financialcondition was “not adequate to warrant continued quotation of its securities” and therefore was in breach of listing rules.
The NZX has not followed suit but New Talisman shares cannot be traded in New Zealand today as the market is closed for the Matariki holiday.
New Talisman issued its annual report to both exchanges just after 3pm yesterday, with the filing tagged as price-sensitive.
New Talisman, whose former chief executive Matthew Hill was ordered last month to pay $100,000 for making false and misleading statements in breach of the Financial Markets Conducts Act, holds a mining permit in the Hauraki Gold Field near Waihī.
It experienced long delays in obtaining access arrangements from the Department of Conservation (DoC) and authority to enter and operate the Talisman Mine. It needs to raise further funds with its cash position falling to $480,997 as at its March 31 balance date. This week it announced the access arrangements had been renewed.
The company’s annual report flagged material uncertainties in its ability to continue as a going concern and said it needed to raise more capital to progress production.
“No assurance can be given that such capital will be available at all or on terms acceptable to the company.”
It also said there was material uncertainty as to its ability to achieve certain production targets. Its cashflow requirement forecasts were based on certain assumptions around the timing, volume and grade of production, which also carried material uncertainty, along with the price of gold.
Insufficient evidence
Auditor Vikas Gupta, of Sydney-based UHY Haines Norton, said he could not express an opinion on the company’s financial statements because he could not obtain enough evidence.
“Due to the significant level of uncertainty associated with forecasting the group’s future cashflows and in determining the likely outcome of the debt or equity capital raise to fund its operations through to production, I was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to enable me to form an opinion as to whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate,” Gupta said.
“I consider the impact of the above matters to be material and pervasive to the consolidated financial statements of the group.”
Michael Stiassny is an independent director of New Talisman Gold Mines. Photo / Jason Oxenham
New Talisman’s board is made up of independent chair Samatha Sharif, independent director Michael Stiassny, director John Upperton and independent non-executive director Richard Tacon.
The company announced on Wednesday that it had renewed its long-term access arrangements with DoC for the Talisman Mine for five years and said it expected to open a capital raise in July.
“As signalled in previous market releases, this is the final hurdle in allowing NTL to progress Talisman mine to production,” a statement signed by Sharif said.
“Given the year-long delay in achieving this approval – and the impact on our original production and revenue timetable – we will now have to raise further funds before we are able to execute our strategic plan.
“The good news is that we now have all the key elements in place to achieve production.”
The Herald is seeking comment from the company on what the ASX suspension means for the planned capital raise.
An NZX spokesman said: “NZ RegCo has noted the suspension of trading in NTL’s shares on the ASX and is engaging with the company and relevant parties.”
The latest development follows the Hill case, which related to anonymous posts the FMA alleged Hill had made about the company on the Sharetrader website’s online investor forum.
