History
Loncor, a Toronto-listed gold explorer in the DRC, drilled out a million-ounce Makapela deposit, then shrank to small placements and dropped its US listing amid tight funding.
2011-2012: Drilling Makapela
Loncor was a gold explorer with two projects in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ngayu and North Kivu. In April 2011 its shares were authorised for listing in New York under the symbol "LON", alongside its main Toronto Venture Exchange listing as "LN". The stated aim was better access and liquidity for global investors.
The work centred on Makapela, in the Ngayu project. In May 2011 the company reported seven more drill holes, including 4.35 m at 17.55 g/t gold (grams of gold per tonne of rock), though two holes found nothing significant. A third rig was being mobilised, with the goal of showing the gold continued along its length and at depth. By August, results from 11 more holes included 37.11 m at 5.35 g/t, but four holes returned low grades, one was abandoned after mechanical problems, and contractor breakdowns had slowed progress over two months.
In January 2012 a new prospect, Itali, about 10 km south of Makapela, produced a first hole of 38.82 m at 2.66 g/t. In May 2012 Loncor announced its first resource estimate at Makapela: an Inferred resource (the lowest-confidence category) of 4.10 million tonnes at 7.59 g/t, or 1.0 million ounces. The filing did not claim the deposit was economic.
2013-2015: Resource upgrade and retrenchment
In April 2013 an updated estimate, using 13 more core holes, put Makapela at 0.61 million ounces Indicated (a higher-confidence category) and 0.55 million ounces Inferred. More than 600,000 ounces had moved up in confidence. A preliminary economic assessment, an early study of whether the deposit could be mined, was pushed from the end of March to the end of May 2013. The records provided do not report its result.
The record then goes quiet until April 2014, when Loncor said it would voluntarily delist from the NYSE MKT rather than submit a compliance plan after the exchange said it was not meeting listing standards. It said the costs outweighed the benefits, and US holders could trade on the OTCQB or in Toronto. The North Kivu permits stood at 51, down from 53 a year earlier.
In February 2015 Loncor closed a private placement of 8,000,000 shares at Cdn$0.06, raising Cdn$480,000 for general corporate purposes. Arnold Kondrat, now interim President and CEO, bought 3,500,000 shares and held 13,800,818 shares (16.95%). Peter Cowley was no longer named as CEO, with no reason given. A further 3,000,000 shares were placed in March 2015 for Cdn$180,000. As of March 2015, Loncor was a Toronto-listed explorer with no disclosed debt, relying on small share placements.
Written from the 8 story beats below (2011 to 19 Feb 2015), which come from the company's own announcements and filings.