Kingsgate Consolidated (ASX:KCN): “The kings of low grade”

Sonia Madigan:

We’re joining you from the floor at Kalgoorlie Diggers & Dealers 2023.

It’s day three and I’m with Jamie Gibson and he’s the MD of Kingsgate Consolidated (KCN). And only this week they have released a production update from their gold operations in Thailand.

Can you tell us about that?

Jamie Gibson:

I can, thanks, Sonia.

Look, we’re delighted to be back. We kicked off Chatree 2.0 in March this year and we’ve been operating plant number two and we’re delighted to tell everybody that we’ve produced 13,000 ounces since plant number two kicked off in March. And we’re building towards steady-state production of 120,000 ounces from early next year.

And we’re just delighted to be back in the game. And what we think sets us apart
from some of our ASX peers is that we have a reserve of about nine years of mine life. We have an incredible expiration upside just outside the fence. And I think that we’re incredibly undervalued based on where we are today.

Sonia Madigan:

So is the company actually bringing in revenue from your operations in Thailand?

Jamie Gibson:

Yes, that’s correct. So we started cash flowing again in March and we’ve been steadily building up and we’ll be bringing plant one on later on this year. And the great thing about that is when both those plants are going, they produce more than 120,000 ounces of gold a year. We move more than six million tonnes of rock.

So we’re the kings of low grade. We’re good at squeezing the margins and we’re good at moving the rock.

Sonia Madigan:

So how are investors reacting to the progress at Kingsgate?

Jamie Gibson:

I think the return of Chatree has been really welcome and really positively received by investors. And that’s what’s great about being here at Diggers, that we get to tell this story. And I would say that we’ve got a lot of blue sky in front of us.

We’ve been able to get $150 million in benefits from the Thai government. We’ve got an eight-year tax holiday. So we think we’re incredibly undervalued. So I would say if you’re out there and you’re thinking of a bit of a punt, then Kingsgate’s the one for you.

Sonia Madigan:

Of course, they do all say that, but I do hear also that you’re a bit of a stalwart here at Kalgoorlie Diggers & Dealers.

Jamie Gibson:

That’s right, Sonia. Kingsgate’s been coming here since Diggers started the early 1990s and that’s a proud legacy that we’ve got and we’d like to continue that story and we’d certainly like to build value for anybody that takes a piece of us or follows us.