Coromandel gold miner New Talisman suspended from ASX, auditor unable to comment on accounts

New Talisman, whose former chief executive Matthew Hill was fined $100,000 last month for making false and misleading statements in breach of the Financial Markets Conducts Act, holds a mining permit for the Hauraki goldfield near Waihī.

There have been lengthy delays in obtaining access permits from the Department of Conservation (DoC) and permission to enter and operate the Talisman mine. The company needs to raise further funds as its cash balance has fallen to $480,997 at the balance sheet date of March 31. This week the company announced that the access permits have been renewed.

The Company’s annual report highlighted significant uncertainties regarding its ability to continue as a going concern and stated that additional capital would be required to continue production.

“There can be no guarantee that this capital will be available at all or only on terms acceptable to the company.”

The Company also stated that there were significant uncertainties regarding the Company’s ability to achieve certain production targets. The projections of cash flow requirements were based on certain assumptions regarding the timing, volume and quality of production, which also involved significant uncertainties in addition to the price of gold.

Insufficient evidence

Auditor Vikas Gupta of Sydney-based UHY Haines Norton said he could not comment on the company’s financial statements because he could not provide sufficient evidence.

“Due to the significant uncertainty involved in forecasting the Group’s future cash flows and determining the likely outcome of borrowings or equity to finance operations through to production, I was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to form an opinion on the appropriateness of using the going concern assumption,” Gupta said.

“I believe that the matters referred to above will have a material and profound impact on the Group’s consolidated financial statements.”

New Talisman’s Board of Directors consists 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 extended its long-term access agreements with the DoC for the Talisman mine for five years and announced that it expects to complete a capital raising in July.

“As indicated in previous market disclosures, this is the final hurdle that will enable NTL to advance the Talisman mine to production,” said a statement signed by Sharif.

“Given the one-year delay in obtaining this approval – and the impact on our original production and sales schedule – we must now raise additional funds before we can execute on our strategic plan.

“The good news is that we now have all the key elements to start production.”

The Herald The Company is seeking comment on what the ASX suspension means for the proposed capital raising.

The NZX was also asked for a comment.

The latest development follows the Hill case, which concerned anonymous posts that Hill is said to have written about the company in the online investor forum of the website Sharetrader, according to the FMA.

The FMA filed a civil lawsuit against Hill in August 2021.

Last month’s fine came after he admitted breaching section 22(d) of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

Duncan Bridgeman is senior editor of NZME Business, which includes the BusinessHerald And BusinessDesk.