Report of the auditors to Anglesey Mining plc
on corporate governance matters

In addition to our audit of the financial statements, we have reviewed the directors’ statement above concerning the company's compliance with the paragraphs of the Cadbury Code of Best Practice specified for our review by the London Stock Exchange and their adoption of the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements. The objective of our review is to draw attention to any non-compliance with Listing Rules 12.43(j) and 12.43(v)

Basis of opinion

We carried out our review in accordance with guidance issued by the Auditing Practices Board. That guidance does not require us to perform the additional work necessary to, and we do not, express any opinion on the effectiveness of either the company's system of internal financial control or its corporate governance procedures nor on the ability of the company to continue in operational existence.

Opinion

With respect to the directors' statements on internal financial control above and going concern on page *, in our opinion the directors have provided the disclosures required by the Listing Rules referred to above and such statements are not inconsistent with the information of which we are aware from our audit work on the financial statements.

Based on enquiry of certain directors and officers of the company, and examination of relevant documents, in our opinion the directors' statement above appropriately reflects the company's compliance with the other aspects of the Code specified for our review by Listing Rule 12.43 (j).

Deloitte and Touche

Chartered Accountants

Dublin, 29 September 1998

 

Report of the auditors to the members of Anglesey Mining plc

We have audited the financial statements on pages * to *.

Respective responsibilities of directors and auditors

As described on page * the company's directors are responsible for the preparation of financial statements. It is our responsibility to form an independent opinion, based on our audit, on those statements and to report our opinion to you.

Basis of opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with Auditing Standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgements made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the group's circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.

We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all the information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements.

Fundamental uncertainties

In forming our opinion we have considered the adequacy of the disclosures in the financial statements concerning the basis of preparation and the recoverability of development and exploration expenditure.

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, the validity of which depends on:

the group’s ability to continue its operations
the raising of new finance to develop the mine
the viability of the operation of the mine, and
the ability of the group to trade profitably in the future.

The financial statements do not include any adjustments that would result should the above conditions not be met. Details of the circumstances relating to this fundamental uncertainty are described in the directors' report on page 12 and in note 1 to the financial statements.

The financial statements disclose the directors’ assumption that the development and exploration expenditure, included in the balance sheet at £11,563,484 and in the consolidated balance sheet at £11,730,369 will be recovered by the operation of the mine. The validity of this assumption depends upon the viability of the operation of the mine, the ability of the group to raise the funding referred to above and the ability of the group to trade profitability in the future. Details of the circumstances relating to this fundamental uncertainty are described in note 7 to the financial statements.

Our opinion is not qualified in respect of the above fundamental uncertainties.

Opinion

In our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of the group's affairs at 31 March 1998 and of its loss for the year then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985.

Deloitte and Touche

Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors

Dublin, 29 September 1998