Asa Resource Group investigating 'mischievous' whistleblower claims

Asa Resource Group said on Tuesday that its board received certain anonymous allegations relating to the operations at Freda Rebecca Gold Mine in Zimbabwe, in which the company has an 85% interest.

The AIM-traded firm said the allegations referred to “certain aspects” of the financial management at Freda Rebecca.

Its directors said they believed the allegations to be “completely mischievous”, and their origins appeared to have “certain similarities” to the previously notified lawsuit served on Freda Rebecca in January.

The board said it “strongly” suspected that certain disgruntled former employees may be at the root of some of the allegations.

It said it believed the new allegations were unsubstantiated and designed to distract further from the ongoing restructuring to improve the efficiency and profitability of its Zimbabwean operations.

The board unanimously agreed to initiate a review of the allegations, led by the group legal advisor Barry Dearing, with the findings to be reported to the group's independent non-executive directors, none of whom had been associated with the allegations.

Asa said the alleged matters were not believed to have had any impact upon the continuing operations at Freda Rebecca, and the inquiry will be complete in a matter of weeks.

“We take our corporate governance duties very seriously and we stand by the executive's efforts to drive through efficiency measures of its subsidiaries for the benefit of all stakeholders,” said senior non-executive director Scott Morrison.

“We regret if difficult retrenchment decisions need to be made, but the executive must take every effort to ensure our mines are profitable.

“Any reorganisation takes time and there are inevitably and regrettably casualties along the way,” Dr Morrison added.