You are right in one aspect, EGFT (claimant) was the
first mining contractor engaged, they were there from the day Firefinch took ownership (November 2020) of the Morila Gold mine. Made logical sense, to retain EGFT as they were the mining contractor engaged by Barrick at the time.
ME-IM was the
second mining services contractor, and was responsible for the Morila and Satellite Pit mining services, the ones that had procured new equipment to be delivered around December 2021, but the delivery was delayed due to the ECOWAS. The Company was aware since February 2022 the contractor was using older equipment that tended to go offline and require more maintenance.
This is when the Company engaged a
third mining contractor, used at the Viper Satellite pit, (which was one of the pits in the ME-IM service contract), it was ME-IM the Company initiated commercial action against, FYI this was asked at the AGM and in emails sent to the Company as to the progress or outcome of these actions .. .. .. "crickets"
To top it all of, Inter-Mining Services (the IM of the ME-IM JV) were also engaged to haul ore from the Viper and N'tiola satellite pits although I cannot ascertain if this was additional costs or part of the Mining Services contract?
@camban cannot confirm but I will made an educated guess, ME-IM up until recently were still the mining service contractor given that they only recently demobbed from the Morila mine site after the mine was put on Care & Maintenance late December .. .. ..
Further to the above, EGFT progressed all the preliminary work, haul road stripping and site preparations for the N'tiola Satellite pit, that brought mining there forward 6 weeks but also work that was in the ME-IM service contract.
Here is the kicker, and my opinion, the poor equipment used by ME-IM was a large contributor to the poor mine performance and mine throughput which was ultimately the demise of FFX (among other things) but the Company tried to go out of its way to satisfy their debt during the attempted Recapitalisation package plus a seat on the board!!
EGFT, were engaged from November 2020 until April 2022 (there doesn't appear to be a Mining Service Agreement with them for this period, that I can find) but the Company were happy to offer them a further 12 month Mining Service contract, they were the contractor for the commencement of mining operations (May 2021) under Firefinch when Pit 5 was mined.
As for the EGFT claim of US$31m -- what I would really like to know;
~ what date was the letter received? I mean, usually this is included in the announcement?
~ why the notice indicates Mining Service Contract in 2021 and not the whole date, I can't find any mention of the mining contract in company announcements!
~ the notice also indicates that the Mining Service Contract was between EGTF and Morila SA.
Dug up the spreadsheet with costing for mining activities (my calculations as described on sheet)
cheers
