ASX Review Of Compliance With The JORC Code

The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has today released its first public review of disclosure by listed mining entities of their compliance with the JORC Code.

The JORC Code is a set of practical and effective minimum reporting standards and guidelines for the mining industry, developed and maintained by the Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) and ASX. The Code has become a blueprint for similar initiatives around the world and contributed to Australia's reputation for offering a well-regulated marketplace. The JORC Code is incorporated into ASX’s listing rules.

Mining entities or entities (including entities controlled by them or subsidiaries) that have an interest in a mining tenement must report in accordance with the JORC Code if they are announcing or reporting on exploration results, mineral resources or ore reserves. The reports are lodged via ASX’s Company Announcements Platform and are monitored by ASX Markets Supervision (ASXMS).

The review was conducted by ASXMS for the six months to 31 March 2009. Approximately 800 companies listed on ASX are mining entities.

An estimated 5,200 announcements were reviewed by ASXMS for compliance with the JORC Code during the sixmonth period of the review.
312 (6.0%) of those announcements were found to contain a total of 333 instances of material non-compliant reporting by 246 entities.
The most common breach was a deficient or missing Competent Person Statement (176 instances or 52.9% of total breaches).

ASXMS took immediate action to correct the material breaches once identified, including:

Requiring a replacement announcement that was compliant with the JORC Code to be released to the market;
Requiring a clarifying announcement or addendum to be released to the market;
Providing an educative warning to an entity; or
Writing a ‘please explain’ letter to an entity with a significant breach and releasing that letter to the market.

ASXMS conducts ongoing analysis of disclosure and undertakes a range of educative initiatives to help improve compliance with the JORC Code. These include the publication of guidance in Companies Updates and seminars as part of the Education and Research Program.

The review of JORC Code Disclosure Compliance can be downloaded on clicking here.