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St Andrew Reports 2007 Q1 Financial Results
May 15, 2007
Oakville, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday May 15, 2007 - St Andrew Goldfields Ltd. (TSX: SAS) (St Andrew) wishes to report its financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2007. Net loss for the quarter ended March 31, 2007 was $15,240,618 or $0.23 per share as compared to a net loss of $3,190,145 or $0.10 per share for the same period in 2006.
Included in this loss is a future income tax recovery amount of $8,387,016 as compared to $3,687,278 in the same period in 2006 which represents the tax benefit related to the renunciation of tax deductions of $24,580,931 for flow-through shares issued in 2006 as compared to $10,806,794 for flow-through shares issued in 2005. Despite the recording of the tax recovery of $8,387,016 in the first quarter of 2007, loss in the first quarter of 2007 increased by $12,050,473 as compared to the same quarter in 2006 due to the Companys continued exploration and mine development activities at the Taylor Advanced Exploration Project, the Holloway-Holt Gold Mine and the start up of mining and milling operations at its Nixon Fork Gold Mine.
St Andrews accounting policy is to expense all exploration and mine development expenditures prior to the establishment of economically recoverable reserves at a property. When the Company has determined that a mineral property can be economically developed as a result of establishing proven and probable reserves, costs incurred to develop the property are capitalized. With the exception of the Companys Nixon Fork Gold Mine, none of the Companys exploration and mine development projects have established that there are any economically recoverable reserves. For the quarter ended March 31, 2007, the Company incurred exploration and mine development expenditures of $14,199,672, of which $742,536 were capitalized as deferred development expenditures.
Results of Operations
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Three months ended March 31, |
2007 |
2006 |
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Tonnes mined |
56,165 |
27,255 |
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Tonnes milled |
46,603 |
22,517 |
| |
|
|
|
Gold production (ounces) |
6,527 |
4,267 |
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Gold grade (grams per tonne) |
5.72 |
4.14 |
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|
|
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Gold sold (ounces) |
3,529 |
6,006 |
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Gold Sales |
$2,669,606 |
$3,843,994 |
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Loss for the period |
$15,240,618 |
$3,190,145 |
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Loss per share (basic and fully-diluted) |
$(0.23) |
$(0.10) |
Nixon Fork Gold Mine
In the first quarter of 2007, the Nixon Fork Gold Mine processed 8,198 tonnes of ore with an average grading of 21.8 grams per tonne (g/t). Mill recovery rate for the quarter averaged approximately 76.0% producing 3,374 ounces of gold and 37,623 pounds of copper. During the quarter, the mine produced 172 tonnes of copper concentrate containing 2,789 ounces of gold. The Company has not recognized any revenue from copper concentrate production as the rights and obligation of ownership of the product have not been passed to the smelter as of March 31, 2007. The Company anticipates copper concentrate revenue will be recognized in the second quarter of 2007. In the first quarter of 2007, mining operations at the Nixon Fork Gold Mine were focused on advancing the development and establishment of stoping areas and resulted in lower volumes of stope ore being treated through the mill. The Company expects the development of three additional mining phases will be completed in the second quarter of 2007 thereby exposing the deposit to additional mining stopes, and the mining operations will progress at sustainable levels.
Stock Gold Complex
In the first quarter of 2007, the Clavos Project delivered 18,126 tonnes to the Stock Gold Mill as compared to 22,517 tonnes for the same period in 2006. The grade of ore milled was 3.28 g/t as compared to 4.14 g/t in 2006. Mill recovery rate for the first quarter of 2007 was 89.3% as compared to 85.3% for the same period last year. Gold production from the Clavos Project mining operation for the three months ended March 31, 2007 was 1,707 ounces as compared to 3,164 ounces produced for the first three months in 2006. Mining operation continues to be negatively affected by the shortage of skilled labour and the complexity of the ore deposit. Management is currently re-examining the overall business plan of the Company. It is anticipated that a revised business plan will be developed and approved by the Companys board of Directors by the end of the second quarter of 2007. This plan will outline future strategic plans for the Clavos Deposit.
Based on exploration at the Hislop Property and the partial redevelopment of the Hislop Mine pit, the Company commenced testing of material in December 2006 from the West Pit. For the first three months ended March 31, 2007, 20,279 tonnes of mineralization with an average grade of 2.17 g/t were processed at the Stock Mill producing 1,152 ounces of gold at a mill recovery rate of 81.4%.
Holloway and Holt Mines
During the first quarter of 2007, 5,033 metres of definition diamond drilling was conducted and development at both the Holloway and Holt Mines are advancing according to plans. For the three months ended March 31, 2007, a total of 734 metres were advanced at the Holloway Mine and 269 metres were advanced at the Holt Mine. St Andrew commenced mine site exploration and development activities at its Holloway and Holt Mines in preparation for a production decision to be made for the start up of the mines in the second half of 2007.
Rights Offering
As previously announced on April 27, 2007, the Company obtained all regulatory approvals in respect of a 124,112,949 rights offering to raise gross proceeds of up to approximately $124 million.
St Andrew will issue to holders of record of its outstanding common shares on May 7, 2007, 1.9 rights for each common share held. Each one (1) right will entitle eligible shareholders to subscribe for one unit at a subscription price of $1.00 per unit until 4:00 p.m. (Toronto time) on May 31, 2007. Each unit will consist of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will be exercisable for 18 months for one common share at $1.25 per share. The Company anticipates this rights offering will close by the end of May 2007.
Of the proposed $124 million unit rights offering, $110 million is guaranteed pursuant to a standby guarantee agreement with related parties of the Company.
St Andrew is a gold mining and exploration company producing gold from the Stock Gold Complex in Timmins, Ontario and the Nixon Fork Gold Mine in Alaska. St Andrew anticipates making a gold production decision with respect to its Holloway-Holt Gold Mine in the Timmins Mining Camp in the second quarter of 2007. St Andrew controls a very large land position in the Timmins Mining Camp, an extensive land position at Eskay Creek in northern British Columbia and land positions around Nixon Fork in the Kuskokwim-Tintina Mining Camp in Alaska. St Andrew also holds an approximate 50.2 % equity interest in New Zealand based gold explorer, Glass Earth Limited (TSX VentureGEL) and an approximate 12.6 % equity interest in Apollo Gold Corporation.
For further information about St Andrew Goldfields Ltd., please contact Investor Relations toll-free at 1-800-463-5139 or
email investor@standrewgoldfields.com or contact
Tel: (905) 815-9855 Fax: (905) 815-9437
Don Shaxon
Investor Relations Manager
Email: dshaxon@standrewgoldfields.com
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Glenn Laing
President and CEO
Email: glaing@standrewgoldfields.com |
Ben Au
CFO and VP Finance & Administration
Email: bau@standrewgoldfields.com |
FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS
The information in this release may contain forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. This forward-looking information is subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking information. Factors that may cause actual results to vary material include, but are not limited to, inaccurate assumptions concerning the exploration for and development of mineral deposits, political instability, currency fluctuations, unanticipated operational or technical difficulties, changes in laws or regulations, the risks of obtaining necessary licenses and permits, changes in general economic conditions or conditions in the financial markets and the inability to raise additional financing. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information. St Andrew does not assume the obligation to revise or update this forward-looking information after the date of this release or to revise such information to reflect the occurrence of future unanticipated events, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.
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