Perseus has a stated objective to pursue operations across multiple jurisdictions. What are the key objectives for the company to accomplish this going into 2018/19?

Perseus’s main objective for 2018 is to ensure that we continue to deliver on all of our publicly articulated  promises relating to exploration, development and production of gold.

Perseus looks at 2018 as a very important year in which we will be able to leverage off the fruits of our labour in 2017 when we turned around our Edikan operations in Ghana, and advanced the Sissingue project to the point that we were able to pour our first gold at Sissingue in January 2018.

We will be starting formal performance tests at Sissingue soon and we should have the mine functioning commercially by the end of the first quarter. This mine that has been delivered about four to six weeks ahead of schedule and on budget will provide us with a second income stream immediately that de-risks our company to some extent as we will no longer be solely reliant on Edikan or exposed to the Ghanaian government for our earnings. During the course of the Sissingue development, we gained invaluable experience in how to develop a mine in francophone West Africa, and we can now move our people from Sissingue to start work on Yaoure which will be our main focus in the development pipeline while the other two working mines will continue running and generating positive cashflow. We are currently working with a funding advisor and looking at the full range of our funding options for Yaoure and we expect to be implementing a financing plan from the start of the June quarter. If everything works the way we envisage, we should be able to move into construction of the Yaoure project by the end of 2018 and have our third mine in production by 2020. This will have us producing about500 thousand ounces of gold per year at that point. By that stage we should have transformed into quite a substantial company.

What would you describe as the key differences when operating in Ghana versus Cote d’Ivoire from a risk perspective?

Cote d’Ivoire at the moment offers a very attractive investment climate, however if they were to change the taxation arrangements in Cote d’Ivoire, as has been hinted, the business environment will change for the worse and they will no longer have people lining up to enter the country. International capital is very mobile and it could easily move elsewhere if perceptions of country risk were to deteriorate. Cote d’Ivoire needs to be cautious how it goes forward because it could lose the very significant edge as an investment destination that it has gained in recent years. It could easily become like Ghana, where the changes in mining and regulations several years ago has made it a less desirable place to do business than it used to be. Even with the new Ghanaian President coming into office in late 2016 on a more “mining friendly” platform, things have not noticeably improved in Ghana. The next 12 months will be crucial for Ghana; they can either implement the proposed changes to make it a desirable destination or they can continue their recent downward slide.

Why do you think international investors and governments across the continent are having a crisis in their relationships with one another?

In my opinion, there is a fundamental lack of trust between host governments across the continent and investors which is derived from a misunderstanding on the part of governments of the economics of mining. On the other hand companies have witnessed maladministration by governments in certain areas and this also leads to an erosion of trust coming back the other way.

The companies, and I certainly include Perseus in this, are at fault for failing to effectively communicate the exact nature of how minerals economics actually works. For instance, the governments need to understand how much it actually costs to produce our commodities and need to take free cash flow rather than revenue generated into account when taxing mining companies. Quite often the lack of understanding on the part of government is the result of the individual bureaucrats not being as experienced or as well educated in the subject of mineral economics as perhaps they might be or not being willing to acknowledge any short comings in terms of available knowledge or resources, for fear of losing face. The communication gap needs to be closed.

One of the reasons we enjoy working in Cote d’Ivoire is because the government has been so open to dialogue and is prepared to give us time to talk issues through.

How does Perseus approach its responsibility towards the social development of the regions where it has operations?

To create a successful mining company, you need good assets, good people, a strong social license, and access to capital and markets. If any one of these elements is missing, you will at best, struggle, while at the worst, fail. Social responsibility is a high priority for Perseus. We put a lot of effort in making sure that our social relationships are sound. Cote d’Ivoire has a very specific requirement that 0.5% of our revenue goes into it community trust fund which is drawn by the community to develop various pieces of infrastructure. In Ghana, as well as paying royalties to the Central government we do have an additional budget to fund community expenditure.

In addition to these formal mechanisms, at each mine we maintain a department of people which specific role is to work with host communities and to ensure that relationships are established and maintained on the ground. This means that we also contribute to the social fabric of the community by sponsoring various events, helping out where we can with the support of those responsible for the provision of education and health.

We have come to learn that our community and our workforce are largely one and the same thing. If the community is happy then our workers are happy and if this is the case then they are likely to be more productive. Everybody wins under these circumstances.

Looking forward into 2019 and beyond, what is your vision for the company?

We are working hard to establish a sustainable business that is based on gold exploration, development and production that delivers fair and equitable benefits to all of our stakeholders.

In specific terms, this means that we need to be constantly looking to replenish our Resource base as we produce gold and in 2019,this means that as well as continuing to pursuing growth through the drill bit, and of course by developing these Resources, we may need to start looking a little further afield and considering business combinations as a means of maintaining our momentum in pursuit of this vision.