Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Rye Patch Gold Corp. (RPMGF) Marches On

Rye Patch Gold Corp. (RPMGF / RPM.V) is one of those ubiquitous gold exploration companies that makes the investor relations rounds.  I first blogged about them in October 2010 when I noticed they had leased out geothermal rights to generate some cash and loosen its rocks.  Here's an update on how they're faring.

You wouldn't know it from the way their management biographies are currently written, but the CEO is a geologist.  That's a plus in my book and they do make a "qualified person" statement.  

Their Rochester project is the subject of a legal battle with another company.  Their Wilco project has an NI 43-101 report from 2008 showing extremely low grades on site and an estimated cost of over $1M to continue drilling.  Their other projects also show discouragingly low grades from exploratory drilling in 2008 with little follow-up exploration since that year.  

The company seems to have enough cash on hand for at least another three quarters but their lack of success in exploration raises questions about what they can do with this money even if the Rochester question is settled in their favor.  Note 1 in their Q3 2012 financial statements admits that their continuance as a going concern depends upon raising more capital.  BTW, I don't see any financial statements for Q1 of this year.  

Maybe Rye Patch will get lucky with one of these properties, but I won't stake my own money on such an outcome.  Maybe they can keep leasing out land to geothermal explorers.

Full disclosure:  No position in Rye Patch Gold Corp. at this time.