Modern Mining February 2023

Resolute’s Mako Gold project, in Senegal.

With over eight months at the helm, Resolute Mining’s CEO, Terry Holohan, is confident that the company is in a strong position to unveil a new long-term strategy aimed at unleashing pent-up value from its two producing gold mines, Syama in Mali and Mako in Senegal. Resolute maps comprehensive strategy for next five years By Adam Baynes: Consultant at Tavistock

Resolute Mining’s CEO, Terry Holohan.

S peaking in an interview for Modern Mining , Holohan looks back on what he sees as a year of steady improvement, picking out highlights such as meeting production guidance for the first since commissioning the Syama underground mine, solving problems he inherited in the sulphide plant and the underground mining operations, achieving consistent balance sheet improvement over the last six quarters and making his own mark with high quality appointments. “We’ve made it a priority to add some engineer ing expertise to the executive management team, so we now have myself and Geoff [Montgomery, COO], who has been key in bolstering the engineering side and turning things around.”

Personnel additions at Resolute haven’t stopped at senior management; experts across a range of fields have been brought in from around the world and at one point the company was employing as many as 160 expats at Syama. Throughout this period of transformation, the emphasis on hands-on management was always important for Holohan and, as confidence in the new setup grew, problem resolution became faster and more efficient. Equally, Resolute values its Malian staff and is now whittling down its expat workforce, meeting internal employment targets and training up its local workforce so it can maintain operations at a lower cost. “We really believe that the opportunities at Resolute are massive, and now that we’ve spent the required time and capital to improve issues at site, and we’re through the worst of the Covid-19 pan demic, we have the personnel and skillsets to take advantage,” Holohan continues. On the corporate finance side Resolute raised a partially underwritten A$164 million in November and December 2022 to strengthen the balance sheet and provide a financial platform for growth. As a result, the company’s top ten shareholders now own over 45%, including a burgeoning register of North American institutions such as Condire (new to the stock in 2022). “We’ve had a lot of North American investors come in long term [since the raise], who are keen on our three-year expansion programme, which is low capi tal, sweating the asset and doing exploration work.”

Aerial view of the Mako Gold pit.

18  MODERN MINING  February 2023