SGX queries Blackgold on heavy trading volume

SHARES of coal mining company Blackgold Natural Resources saw active trading on Tuesday, prompting a query from the Singapore Exchange (SGX). 

As at 11.25am, the counter was up 0.3 Singapore cent or 25 per cent to 1.5 Singapore cents. Some 49.8 million shares had changed hands, making Blackgold the most heavily traded counter on the Singapore bourse in early morning trade. This volume is also more than 30 times the 1.6 million shares traded during the whole of Monday.

In a letter filed at 9.54am on Tuesday, SGX flagged the "unusual volume" and asked Blackgold whether it was aware of any information not previously announced which might explain the trading activity.

The bourse operator also asked the Catalist-listed company to confirm its compliance with listing rules.

Last October, Blackgold announced that its chairman and chief executive Philip Cecil Rickard was resigning in light of changes to the group's business strategy and direction. Mr Rickard, 50, noted then that he would spend time with his family, since BlackGold's planned investment in a coal-fired power plant project in Indonesia had failed to pan out.