When Fraser McGee took the helm of AIM quoted gold explorer Triple Plate Junction (LON:TPJ) in January this year he was faced with sorting out the focus of the company’s business following 12 months of corporate havoc. A proposed de-listing, a reconstructed board, a rebuffed takeover approach and funding issues had left the company with an uncertain future and out of touch with its joint venture partners. It was in a battered, bruised and confused state – and so were its investors.

For McGee, a lawyer by profession and most recently part of RAB Capital’s natural resources focused Special Situations Fund, the decision took some careful thinking. Despite RAB’s passive investment model, McGee was routinely accused of being a shadow director of many of the companies on his book – and he makes no apologies for it. His reputation for forthright views on small mining companies, weak management, bad governance and worse, meant he was a natural choice when Triple Plate Junction needed a new CEO.

The story of Triple Plate Junction dates back to January 2004, when City entrepreneur Ian Gowrie-Smith brought it to AIM with plans to build a gold exploration group in Vietnam with joint venture partner and industry giant Newmont Mining (NYSE:NEM). The company still holds the Vietnamese licence but Newmont are long gone from that part of the company’s business, preferring instead to take their chances in the emerging gold fields of Papua New Guinea. Meanwhile, Triple Plate Junction, sensing the PNG opportunity, also snapped up licences there and now has a series of JV projects with Barrick Gold (NYSE:ABX), Newcrest Mining (ASX:NCM) and Gold Anomaly (ASX:GOA) – as well as what looks set to emerge as a flagship project with Newmont.

Large mining groups have been active in Papua New Guinea for decades but interest in the region took off during 2010 when Harmony Gold (NYSE:HMY) and Newcrest, working together on what is known as the Wafi-Golpu project, announced a massive resource upgrade. Current estimates are that the mine contains at least 16 million ounces of gold and 4.8 million tons of copper and that could rise to 40 million ounces and 15 million tons. Harmony believes it could be the largest project of its type in South East Asia. The implications of all this for Triple Plate Junction are threefold. First,…

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