Positioning gold as a compelling investment proposition

Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, PDI has discovered the largest known gold deposit in West Africa in more than a decade. However, its operations in West Africa are located just outside a protected national park, and the company was keenly aware of the environmental sensitivities associated with its development plans.

PDI needed to be confident it could attract potential investors with a compelling ethical narrative, one that unequivocally demonstrated its awareness of ESG-related risks and ongoing commitment to reflecting and supporting the environmental and social safeguards surrounding its operations. This is precisely the position in which PDI found itself when it asked Burson Buchanan to support raising its profile with the global investment community and attract crucial development finance.

Drawing on this, we were able to craft an authentic ESG narrative that could drive a powerful capital markets engagement strategy, backed by a robust sustainability strategy, and supported by credible KPIs. The resulting investment was supported by some of the world’s largest institutional investment managers and is enabling PDI to fund the development of its principal gold deposits and attain full mining exploitation licenses.

Burson Buchanan has supported PDI’s ESG efforts, not only to raise capital but also to position the company in the best way to attain full mining exploration licences. Burson Buchanan’s Sustainability Team has provided critical support in communicating its ESG initiatives and contributed to the publication of a comprehensive Environmental & Social Impact Assessment (ESIA), a prerequisite for being awarded the necessary licences to progress the project.

PDI now has the ESG performance, knowledge and communications toolkit to confidently showcase its responsible development progress to a sustainability-focused capital markets audience, with whom it needs to continually engage.

Since Burson Buchanan’s engagement, PDI’s shareholder register has transformed from a predominately retail investor base, to a blue-chip institutional backing, including ESG-focussed BlackRock, the world’s largest investment fund. This is following  a series of capital raises, that Buchanan has advised on,  totalling c.AUS$150m in the last 2 years.

This funding has allowed PDI to significantly grow its resource base to over 5.38moz gold, with over 3.2moz reserve, deliver a world class PFS and ESIA, and be fully financed, for not only upgrading to an exploitation/mining licence, but also to deliver the DFS in 2025.

With Burson Buchanan’s support and expertise, the company has also successfully executed its leadership strategy by strengthening the governance of its Board.