Lao Cai Gold JSC (GLC) has made public a resolution from its 2020 annual shareholders’ meeting on business results in 2019. The company reported a loss of VND15.6 billion because the revenue dropped by 90 percent to VND11 billion.

GLC is the only listed gold exploitation company. It is exploiting, sorting and refining gold at Minh Luong, Van Ban, and Lao Cai mines.

Gold mining is considered an attractive business field, especially when the gold price increases, but GLC has had poor business performance.

The company said its revenue and profit have decreased because its gold exploitation license expired in April 2019 and the company halted exploitation.

Gold mining is considered an attractive business field, especially when the gold price increases, but GLC has had poor business performance.

As of the end of 2019, GLC had reported a short-term debt of VND10.7 billion and cumulative loss of VND53.4 billion. The stockholder equity fell to VND51.6 billion.

Unlike most of the other shares in the market, GLC shares have not seen considerable fluctuations since they entered the bourse on January 9, 2019. The shares have always traded at VND10,000 per share.

The other noteworthy feature of the company is the structure of shareholders and the company’s board of management.

At the end of 2018, the major shareholders of the company included Vinacomin which held 46.1 percent of charter capital; Vimico with 21.7 percent; Uong Gia Huy, an individual investor with 8.65 percent of shares; Bitexco Mineral with 6.4 percent; and Dong Duong Mineral with 6.3 percent.

In late January 2019, after GLC entered the bourse, Vinacomin divested all its capital.

The current shareholders include Cao Truong Son (23.29 percent), Uong Huy Giang (22.94 percent), Chu Quang Tu (22.86 percent), Pham Anh Tuan (13.48 percent) and Bitexco Mineral (6.43 percent).

However, the members of the board of management and board of directors are other individuals who do not hold shares. The chair of the board of management is Doan Thi Yen Chau, while Hoang Thi Que is a member of the board of management and director of the company. Tran Dinh Dung is a member of the board of management.

The managers of the company said at the shareholders’ meeting in late June that the company is following administrative procedures to apply for an extension of the exploitation license.

Prior to that, Besra Vietnam also reported losses after many years of exploitation at Bong Mieu Gold Mine and Phuoc Son Gold Mine.

Some gold miners have reported they have exploited thousands of tons of gold. However, unanswered questions remain about what the actual figures are and how the money from gold sales has been used while gold miners continue to incur big losses. 

V. Ha

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