Is It A Dog Or A Star? The Market Will Decide, As Sirius Exploration Looks For £6 Million

By Alastair Ford

Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. It’s also part of the constellation Canis Majoris, and as such takes the popular epithet: “dog”. The ancient Greeks were fascinated by Sirius: because it’s so bright it twinkles more in unsettled weather, and this was thought to cause a malign influence on the earth below. Those suffering from the star’s emanations were said to be “star-struck”, and under its influence plants were said to wilt, men weaken, and women become aroused.

So what are the portents like for Sirius Exploration, currently doing the rounds in search of £6 million to close the acquisition of Sierra Leone-focussed Njahili Resources? Well, Sirius chairman Richard Poulden wouldn’t be altogether upset if the markets do wilt and weaken. That, he thinks, is a development that will help Sirius shine ever brighter, as the company continues along on the acquisition trail, and attempts to act as a consolidator in the industry. As markets continue to weaken, and hard cash becomes harder to find, exploration companies may well struggle to find further funding, and look to companies like Sirius to dig them out of a hole. Mr Poulden isn’t the only man in the market thinking like that, and Sirius isn’t the only company pursuing such a strategy, but a quick look at the makeup of Sirius’s board shows that there are some heavyweights behind the scenes, who ought to be quite capable of delivering on the vision.

Chief executive Alan Paterson boasts senior positions at Sierra Leone Selection Trust and BP Minerals on his CV, exploration director Nick Badham is a former chief geologist with RTZ, while Bruce Evans, described as chief consulting engineer, was a co-founder of SRK (UK). Mr Poulden himself is an Oxford and Harvard educated all-round capitalist. Between them, they ought to be able to cook up some fairly nifty deals. But first they’ve got to lock down the current fundraising. Attempting to build a strategy around choppy markets may well prove to be a tricky proposition. Fair enough that as the ancient consort to Orion Sirius has plenty of pedigree as hunter rather than hunted, but a serious investor has just pulled out of Sirius’s fund-raising, citing choppy markets as the very reason.

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