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Stratex emerges from tumultuous period with new leadership and new direction

Published: 06:24 03 Apr 2018 EDT

gold
Stratex has gold interests across Africa and Turkey

Tim Livesy was appointed chief executive of Stratex International plc (LON:STI) at the beginning of March, replacing interim chief executive and longstanding Stratex stalwart Bob Foster, who has now stepped out of the limelight again. Foster took on the role temporarily, after shareholders voted down the proposed acquisition of Crusader Resources and thereby ejected the previous chief executive Marcus Engelbrecht.

“I am very pleased to be joining Stratex International,” Livesy said in March.

“In particular I am looking forward to working with the team to enhance the value of our existing portfolio and importantly, to develop some new avenues for exploration. The board and management have steered the company through a difficult year. It is now time for us all to focus on developing some new opportunities for exploration and development success, in what we hope will be a more positive market through 2018 and 2019."

Asset portfolio rationalisation now well advanced

With the uncertainty of the Crusader acquisition now receding in the rear view mirror, Stratex has set about rationalising its diverse portfolio of African and Turkish assets.

The Dalafin project in Senegal has recently been put into joint venture with Canadian major IAMGOLD (TSE:IMG).

The 45% interest in the Altintepe gold project in Turkey was sold last year, and US$8mln duly received.

The likelihood is that the interest in Muratdere will now be reduced to a 1.2% royalty.

The last remaining interest in Goldstone Resources was sold in October 2017.

Two other Turkish projects remain on the books, but are now considered non-core.

The 7.84% stake in Aforo remains in place, and Aforo is now focussing on gold in Burkina Faso.

Immediate focus on Thani Stratex

Stratex retains a 30.4% stake in Thani Stratex Resources Limited, and has injected just under £600,000 of new money into it recently.

Thani Stratex has assets in Djibouti and Egypt.

Djibouti portfolio to be spun out into new listed entity

In Djibouti, Thani Stratex is undertaking a 3,000 metre drilling campaign at the Pandora epithermal gold project. The aim of this drilling is to test the depth-extension of previously drilled mineralisation and identify potential higher-grade ore shoots. It’s thought that this work could lead to the definition of a resource.

Stratex has agreed to support completion of the current programme for an additional US$200,000, alongside further funding of US$300,000 by joint venture partner Thani Emirates Resources Holdings. Stratex will await full results of this programme before making a decision on whether to support further exploration.

Elsewhere in Djibouti, at Assaleyta, a five hole programme was undertaken by Thani Stratex across three key zones back in 2016.

Thani Stratex has indicated its intention to spin-off its Djibouti portfolio as a separate entity, seeking exposure to public markets in due course.

Maiden resource now in place at Anbat in Egypt

In Egypt, Thani Stratex is focused on advancing the Anbat project, where, in December 2017 it announced a maiden resource estimate of 209,000 ounces at 1.11 grams per tonne gold within porphyry sills. The geometry of these sills isn’t yet fully understood and will need to be investigated further before any resource estimation is undertaken.

Potential upside has also been highlighted within the granodiorite, where an exploration target has been revealed. More drilling is required to ascertain whether there is any potential for a larger open-pit resource here.

Capital reorganisation pending

Currently, Stratex’s shares are trading at a discount to the nominal 1p value, and under UK company law this prevents the company from issuing new shares. Accordingly, shareholders will be offered the opportunity to vote on a capital reorganisation at the upcoming AGM, to be held on 19 April 2018.

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