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Guinea Gold Mines Are Explorer’s ‘Most Exciting Business Venture Ever’

Guinea Gold Mines Are Explorer’s ‘Most Exciting Business Venture Ever’

David Pearl, executive chairman of  Sovereign Mines of Africa, rates his latest project prospecting gold in Guinea, “as probably my most exciting business venture ever,” according to a report in Proactive Investors.

Known in mining circles, Pearl co-founded Brancote Holdings with John Prochnau. He  discovered Esquel Gold Deposits in Argentina, which was sold in 2002 for $200 million, the report says.

Pearl is the gold explorer’s third-largest shareholder and with the help of finance director Nathan Steinberg, raised almost $2 million to fund the recently completed phase of drilling at the flagship Mandiana-Magana property in Guinea.

Sovereign owns three projects in Guinea. Mandiana would have been exploited years ago if it hadn’t been so remote, Pearl said in the report.

“Guinea is a country that has suffered appalling political and economic instability,” he told Proactive Investors. “That said, since the French left, mining, unlike other local industries, has continued virtually uninterrupted. You can’t change a country’s geology and there is probably no place on earth so rich in natural resources.”

Sovereign Mines of Africa is using a unique template by bringing the government of Guinea in as a 40-percent equity partner during the exploration phase, Pearl said.

The benefits are twofold:  Sovereign Mines of Guinea, the local subsidiary, is deemed as just that – a local miner. It also means the group received the pick of Guinea’s gold concessions with the help of geologists seconded by Guinea’s Ministry of Mines.

“Our model is unique and I don’t think anyone else has ever tried to build a partnership with a government at the exploration stage,” Pearl said.