KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 18): Niche Capital Emas Holdings Bhd (KL:NICE) said it has has received approval from the Kelantan Department of Mineral and Geoscience to commence hard rock mining operations on a 547-hectare site in Tanah Merah district.

The approval permits Niche Capital to operate the mine for two years until Aug 12, 2026, the jeweller said in a bourse filing on Wednesday.

The group said it will proceed with the construction of its first heap leach beneficiation facility on the land in Sokor North, and expects to commence full commissioning by the fourth quarter of 2024.

This latest approval follows the federal Department of Environment's approval in March of the environmental impact assessment report for the development of gold mining processing facilities on the site, followed by the Kelantan State Department of Environment's "no objection to the implementation of the environmental management plan" for the operation in August.

The latest development comes nearly three years after Niche Capital's wholly owned subsidiary, Pembangunan Maju Setia Sdn Bhd, entered into a joint venture with Spate Precious Metals Sdn Bhd for the gold mining project, under which, Niche Capital is entitled to 70% of the profits from the mining project, while Spate Precious will receive the remaining 30%.

According to Niche Capital’s diversification circular to shareholders in June 2021, Spate Precious was appointed as the mining contractor for the Sokor North site by Jayamas Mining Sdn Bhd, which in turn was appointed by Yayasan Kraftangan Kelantan. Jayamas had secured the mining rights from the Kelantan state government in 2018.

Niche Capital has been loss-making over the past six financial years. For the year ended June 30, 2024 (FY2024), the group widened its net loss to RM12.4 million, from RM6.59 million in FY2023. Revenue fell 24.74% to RM22.13 million from RM29.4 million.

This was mainly dragged by its mining and other business segments that incurred larger losses that offset the better gains from its construction and services segment.

Niche Capital's largest shareholders are Pang Lin with a 16.54% stake, followed by executive director and chief executive officer Julian Foo Kuan Lin (14.52%), Bloomberg data showed.

Niche Capital shares closed one sen or 4% higher at 13 sen, valuing the group at RM179.74 million. Year-to-date, the company has slipped 7.14%.