Niuminco explains wind-up notice, permit losses, and the fact that it has $2000 in the bank

Embattled gold miner Niuminco has had to reveal when it received a wind-up notice, first announced last month, and that it’s lost two exploration permits.

The company says they haven’t been formally told yet but applications for extensions of two permits in Papua New Guinea have been rejected.

The applications were made in September last year. The company (ASX:NIU) is considering whether to re-apply for the tenements.

Managing director Tracey Lake told Stockhead they still have a “highly prospective” tenement called Iku Hill where they may look at accelerating exploration.

The PNG-focused gold miner also has the producing Edie Creek mine.

The company was forced to address an ASX query about a wind up notice they said in July had been settled for $21,672.78, and continuing negative cash flows.

The company received the notice on November last year, but said it had been told it wasn’t necessary to disclose the market because they still had $775,000 in the bank.

It told the ASX that it needs 75-80 ounces of gold a month from that mine to get its cash flows out of negative territory.

Niuminco’s last news was that it had produced 18.7 ounces between August 1-23.

Mr Lake said they hope to be cash flow positive “in the coming months” and said attaining the 7580 ounces figure depends on the grade of gold obtained: “the deeper you go the better the grade” he said of the Edie mine.

The company had just $2000 in the bank at the end of June.

The company said on Monday it made sales of $526,000 in the June quarter in 2016, but in its quarterly report from 2018 that figure was $40,495.

The company is in the process of trying to raise $803,779 from investors. It raised from sophisticated investors $17,000 in June, $40,000 in May, $113,000 in April, and $100,000 in March.

The company’s shares were flat at 0.1c on Monday morning.

Stockhead has contacted the company for comment.