PERTH, WESTERN AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - Nov. 24, 2009) -
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES.
Crescent Gold Limited CRACRECRE -
Please find attached for your information, the Chairman's Address and Presentation for Crescent Gold's Annual General Meeting to be held at 3pm today, Tuesday 24 November 2009 at The Albion Hotel, 535 Stirling Highway, Cottesloe, Perth WA.
Yours faithfully
ROLAND HILL, CHAIRMAN
Additional information related to the Company is available for review at www.sedar.com or on the Company's website at www.crescentgold.com.
Crescent Gold
Annual General Meeting - 24 November 2009
Chairman's Address
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. It is a great pleasure to welcome you all to Crescent Gold Limited's 2009 Annual General Meeting.
My name is Roland Hill. I am the Managing Director and Chairman of Crescent and I will also Chair today's meeting.
Sitting with me are some of my fellow directors David Keough and Geoff Stanley. Apologies come from two of our other directors, Simon Grenfell and Theodore Backhouse, who are based overseas and unfortunately could not be with us today. They send their apologies.
Also accompanying us at the front is Mark Tory, Crescent's Chief Financial Officer and Company Secretary.
The Company's activities and performance over the financial year have been adequately addressed in the Annual Report - so I will confine the Chairman's remarks to a few general comments only.
Following the Chairman's address, we will commence with the formal section of the meeting. Upon completion, we will present a short Company update and will then open the meeting for questions from the floor.
General Performance
2009 has been an interesting year for the Company.
Against the backdrop of volatile economic and financial markets, Crescent has effectively gone about achieving its stated aims of recommencing gold production at its core asset in Laverton, Western Australia.
It is immensely satisfying to see the results of the twelve month intensive development program come to fruition with the commencement of mining in August this year and with budgeted production under the principles of the Ore Purchase Agreement (OPA) with Barrick Gold expected to be in line with our forecasts - more detail on this later in the presentation.
The re-development program was not without its difficulties; however, the development team has now assembled a robust development and production schedule that will deliver solid cashflows over four Phases initially out to 2016 at this stage.
Our inaugural and current quarterly campaign in Phase 1 is due for completion at the end of this month. The full Phase 1 is scheduled to be completed in December 2010 with Phase 2 processing scheduled to commence in the following quarter.
Our immediate focus and the challenge for the Company is to continually build on the very impressive start to the Laverton Gold Operations under the OPA with Barrick Gold. Our development team has a twofold focus - being the continual supply of ore to Barrick and the steady development pipeline of deposits to be developed in order to extend the mining schedule.
On balance, and despite the increasingly difficult operating environment, the Laverton Gold Project is advancing according to plan and will provide Crescent the prospect of strong and sustainable cashflows and profitability in which to pursue further consolidation and broader growth opportunities for the Company.
Corporate Governance
The board and management have always upheld a high standard of corporate governance and conduct and we are continually seeking to improve upon our practices.
One small change was made to our governance practice during the year to allow a more efficient and effective use of the board was amalgamating the Nomination Committee's role with that of the Remuneration Committee's function.
Board Changes
As you may be aware, there were a number of board changes over the year - reflecting, the change of jurisdiction of the investment by our major shareholder Deutsche Bank.
I would like to thank the already departed directors - Martin Belvisi, Renatto Barbieri, Franco Cavallini and Jose Estaban for their contribution to Crescent and formally take the opportunity welcome Simon Grenfell and Theodore Backhouse as their replacements, to the board. We are delighted in having their skills and experience augmenting the capabilities of the board.
Recognition of Thanks
Before I conclude with the Chairman's Address, I would like to acknowledge the important role that our employees play in the success of the Company.
On behalf of the board, I would like to thank all employees and contractors for their significant contribution and effort to Crescent.
I would also like to thank all of our shareholders for their support and I look forward to your continued participation with the Company and its bright future.
I would also like to make mention of the excellent working relationship that Crescent has with Barrick Gold under the Ore Purchase Agreement. It is clearly a win:win association with benefits to both parties.
Finally I would also like to recognize the efforts of Mining and Civil Australia and of Hamptons Mining as our mining and haulage contractors at Laverton in assisting us with achieving our production goals.
In Closing
Clearly, the year ahead will be one of great opportunity as the challenges in the industry and at Laverton continue however, I know Crescent management and staff is looking forward to the next 12 months with much excitement as we strive to deliver on our aims of continued improvement at operational level and graduate towards our future growth.
Now on to the formal section of today's meeting.
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