Arian Silver Corporation: Results for the Quarter Ended March 31, 2008
posted on
Jun 02, 2008 12:51PM
Advancing substantial silver and polymetal properties in Mexico
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM--(Marketwire - June 2, 2008) -
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES
Arian Silver Corporation ("Arian" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE:AGQ)(AIM:AGQ)(PLUS:AGQ)(FRAN... is a silver exploration and development company focused on identifying, acquiring and developing resource projects in Mexico. Today it reports unaudited results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008. All amounts are expressed in US dollars unless otherwise stated.
HIGHLIGHTS
Financial
- As at March 31, 2008, the Company had assets of $7.6 million, including intangible assets of $5.7 million and cash of $0.9 million.
- Expenditure on projects in Mexico and on other assets in the quarter was $1.3 million.
- Consolidated pre-tax loss before exceptional items for the quarter of $0.9 million.
Operational
- During the period, the Company completed two major drilling programmes. At the San Jose project a total of 12,000 metres ("m") was drilled and at the Tepal project a total of 7,178m was drilled.
- During the period, the Company announced initial Canadian National Instrument 43-101 mineral resource estimates in respect of the San Jose and Tepal projects.
- Follow up work programmes either underway or planned in respect of San Jose, Tepal and Calicanto, the Company's three principal projects.
Arian's Chief Executive Officer, Jim Williams, said, "Excellent progress has been made so far in 2008, including the issue of initial NI 43-101 resource statements on two of our three key properties, namely San Jose and Tepal. In addition, we have completed our Phase-1 drilling programmes on both these properties and anticipate reporting updated resources on these properties during Q3 2008. During the quarter we have employed a Chief Operating Officer who is, amongst his other tasks, compiling an in-house feasibility study on our San Jose Project. We have a first-class group of projects within our portfolio and I am very excited with the continuing excellent results we are achieving and the outlook for the remainder of 2008."
MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
The Management's Discussion and Analysis of results for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 ("MD&A") and unaudited Financial Statements for the Company for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 ("Financials") are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com or on the Company's website at www.ariansilver.com. These documents can also be obtained on application to the Company. The following information has been extracted from the MD&A and Financials. The financial information in this announcement has been extracted from but does not constitute full statutory accounts.
FINANCIAL RESULTS
Description
The Company is engaged in the acquisition and exploration of mineral resource properties in Mexico.
Results for the quarter
In the three months to March 31, 2008, the Company incurred a loss of $0.9 million after expensing the fair value of options vesting of $60,000. There was no income other than interest from short term cash deposits of $18,000. The Company continued to incur administrative costs in relation to its Mexican operations and in respect of corporate overheads.
In the three months to March 31, 2008, intangible assets increased by $1.3 million to $5.7 million in respect of the Mexican projects.
LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
As at March 31, 2008, the Company had working capital of approximately $1.34 million (December 31, 2007: $3.5 million). The decrease in working capital during the period is the result of project and administrative expenditure.
The most significant asset at March 31, 2008 was intangible assets of $5.7 million (December 31, 2007: $4.4 million). In addition, there were tangible assets of $0.2 million (December 31, 2007: $0.2 million) and receivables were $0.9 million (December 31, 2007: $0.7 million). Cash was $0.9 million (December 31, 2007: $3.1 million). Payables were $0.4 million (December 31, 2007: $0.3 million).
On May 29, 2008 the Company announced that it had raised Cdn$3,023,000 by way of a private placement of 12,092,000 units (each a "Unit") at Cdn$0.25 per Unit. Each Unit consists of one common share and one-half of one common share purchase warrant. Each whole warrant will entitle the holder to acquire one common share of the Company at an exercise price of Cdn$0.35 share for a period of 18 months from the closing date of the placement. The warrants are also subject to an accelerated exercise provision.
Exploration and development commitments as at March 31, 2008
The Company does not have any exploration and development expenditure commitments in respect of its projects. However, the following are the material payments that will need to be made in order to maintain certain properties in good standing:
(a) In relation to the San Jose option agreement the Company is required to pay the vendor $1.5 million in instalments over the three-year period through to December 2009 and will also grant the vendor a Net Smelter Royalty ("NSR") of 2%. At March 31, 2008, $288,000 had been paid and the next payment of $380,000 is due June 2008.
(b) In relation to the Tepal option agreement the Company is required to pay the vendor $5 million in instalments over the five-year period through to June 2011 and will also grant the vendor a NSR of 2.5%. At March 31, 2008, $800,000 had been paid and the next payment of $500,000 is due June 2008.
(c) In relation to the Calicanto option, the Company is required to pay $370,000. At March 31, 2008, $156,000 had been paid. Since the period end a further $124,000 has been paid and the next and final payment of $90,000 is due June 2008.
In relation to the Las Reinas option, at March 31, 2008, $50,000 had been paid by the Company. However, no further options payments will be made as the Company will not be proceeding with its interest in this property group and is allowing the option to lapse.
The Company has the right to withdraw from the option agreements relating to San Jose, Tepal, Calicanto and Las Reinas at any time during the term of each option without financial penalty. All property payments are subject to a 15% Sales Tax (IVA).
The outstanding expenditures described above are discretionary and not yet committed as they are dependent on timing and availability of funds.
REVIEW OF OPERATIONS
The Company is currently concentrating its efforts on three key projects, namely, San Jose and Calicanto, located in Zacatecas State, Mexico and Tepal, located in Michoacan State, Mexico. In addition the Company has a number of other less advanced projects, which are not currently being progressed.
During the period, the Company completed two major drilling programmes. At the San Jose project a total of 12,000 metres ("m") was drilled and at the Tepal project a total of 7,178m was drilled. The Company also announced initial Canadian National Instrument ("NI") 43-101 mineral resource estimates in respect of both properties. These NI 43-101 estimates were prepared by International Mining Consultants A.C.A Howe International Limited.
The Company has also expanded its senior management team with the appointment of Graham Tye, a Spanish speaking mining engineer with over 25 years of industry experience, as Chief Operating Officer.
Qualified Person
Mr. Jim Williams. Eur Ing, Eur Geol, BSc, MSc, D.I.C., FIMMM, and Chief Executive Officer of Arian, is a "Qualified Person" as defined in the AIM guidelines of the London Stock Exchange, and a "Qualified Person" as defined in the Canadian Securities Administrators National Instrument 43-101 has reviewed and approved the technical information in this document other than the mineral resource estimates.
San Jose Project, Ojocaliente District, Zacatecas State
During the period the Company completed its phase-one 12,000m drilling campaign on the property. This programme consisted of 65 drill holes over only 4km of the 12km of strike length of the San Jose Vein ("SJV").
In March 2008 the Company announced an initial NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate for the property (see the Company's press release dated March 3, 2008 entitled "Initial NI 43-101 Resource Calculation at San Jose"), details of which are set out in the table below. The resource estimate was derived from approximately 50% of the drill holes as the results from 34 holes were not available for the database modelling cut-off date in mid-December 2007. The remaining samples from drilling and underground sampling are currently with the assay laboratories and the results from these are awaited. The Company anticipates that the updated initial resource estimate will be completed in Q3, 2008 once the Company has integrated the results of the remaining drill holes of the phase-one drilling campaign into the resource model.
The initial resource estimate is 27.6 million ounces of silver, 64.6 million pounds of lead and 147.5 million pounds of zinc in the inferred mineral resource category. This inferred mineral resource is from holes drilled to an aggregate core length of 3,600m and is contained within a 4km section comprising four currently defined mineral resource blocks along the strike of the SJV. These blocks currently cover an aggregate strike length of some 1,600m within the 4km strike length and extend to a depth of 200m. The percentage of oxide, transitional and primary material is undefined as part of these preliminary "inferred" estimations.
San Jose Inferred Mineral Resource Estimates
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Contained Metal
-----------------
Zone Tonnes Ag Pb Zn Ag
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
g/t % % (oz)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Block 450 3,592,000 100.9 0.09 0.26 11,655,124
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Santa Ana 2,823,000 103.8 0.44 1.17 9,422,371
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Solidad 1,659,000 108.5 0.78 1.42 5,789,640
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guanajuatillo 282,000 85.4 0.25 0.36 775,592
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 8,356,000 102.8 0.35 0.8 27,642,727
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Cut-off grade of 0 g/t Ag
2. Ag equals Silver. Pb equals Lead. Zn equals Zinc.
3. The mineral resource estimates are in accordance with CIM and JORC
standards
4. The effective date of the mineral resource estimates is 26 February 2008
5. The estimates are based on geostatistical data assessment and
preliminary computerised IDW3, Ag grade wireframe restricted, linear
block modelling
Tepal Inferred Mineral Resource Estimates
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grade Contained Metal
-----------------------------------------------------------
Zone Type Tonnes Au Cu AuEq Au Cu Au Eq
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
('000) g/t % g/t (oz x 000's) (Mlbs) (oz x 000's)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Oxide 45,404 0.46 0.27 1.04 674 254.07 1,521
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
South Oxide 33,440 0.47 0.23 0.99 506 167.45 1,061
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total 78,844 0.47 0.24 1.03 1,180 421.53 2,582
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Cut-off grade of 0.18 g/t Au
2. Au equals Gold. Cu equals Copper
3. The mineral resource estimates are in accordance with CIM and JORC
standards
4. The effective date of the mineral resource estimates is 3 March 2008
5. The estimates are based on geostatistical data assessment and
preliminary computerised IDW3, Ag grade wireframe restricted, linear
block modelling
Arian Silver Corporation
Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited)
For the three months as at March 31, 2008 and Dec 31, 2007
(In U.S. dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 2007
$'000 $'000
Assets
Property, plant and equipment 205 181
Intangible assets 5,704 4,407
-------------------
Total non-current assets 5,909 4,588
-------------------
Trade and other receivables 855 714
Cash and cash equivalents 851 3,134
-------------------
Total current assets 1,706 3,848
-------------------
Total assets 7,615 8,436
-------------------
-------------------
Equity
Share capital 29,852 29,852
Share-based payment reserve 2,128 2,068
Foreign exchange translation reserve (873) (865)
Retained loss (23,858) (22,955)
-------------------
Total equity 7,249 8,100
-------------------
Trade and other payables 366 336
-------------------
Total current liabilities 366 336
-------------------
Total liabilities 366 336
-------------------
Total equity and liabilities 7,615 8,436
-------------------
-------------------
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
These consolidated financial statements have been approved by the Company's
directors.
Arian Silver Corporation
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Deficit (Unaudited)
For the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007
(In U.S. dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Months 3 Months
ended ended
March 31 March 31
2008 2007
$'000 $'000
Administrative expenses (921) (1,061)
-----------------------------
Operating loss before financing costs (921) (1,061)
-----------------------------
Finance income 18 18
-----------------------------
Net financing costs 18 18
-----------------------------
Loss before tax (903) (1,043)
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
Loss for the period (903) (1,043)
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
Basic and diluted loss per share ($) (0.01) (0.01)
Consolidated Statement of recognised income
and expense
Foreign exchange translation differences
recognised directly in equity
- in respect of re-translation of net
investment in subsidiaries (10) (3)
- in respect of presentation of financial
statements in United States dollars 2 (1)
Loss for the period (903) (1,043)
-----------------------------
Total recognised income and expense for
the period (911) (1,047)
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
There were no gains or losses during the period other than the above
reported loss.
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
These consolidated financial statements have been approved by the Company's
directors.
Arian Silver Corporation
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows (Unaudited)
For the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007
(In U.S. dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Months 3 Months
ended ended
March 31 March 31
2008 2007
$'000 $'000
Cash flows from operating activities
Operating loss before financing costs (921) (1,061)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation 11 6
Exchange Difference (50) (27)
Equity-settled share-based payment transactions 60 119
--------------------------
(900) (963)
--------------------------
Change in trade and other receivables (129) (97)
Change in trade and other payables 29 (17)
--------------------------
--------------------------
Net cash used in operating activities (1,000) (1,077)
--------------------------
--------------------------
Cash flows from investing activities
Interest received 18 18
Acquisition of intangibles (1,187) (365)
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment (35) (27)
--------------------------
--------------------------
Net cash used in investing activities (1,204) (374)
--------------------------
--------------------------
Cash flows from financing activities
Proceeds from issue of share capital - 418
Bank overdraft - (6)
--------------------------
--------------------------
Net cash from financing activities - 412
--------------------------
--------------------------
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at January 1 3,134 3,193
Effect of exchange rate fluctuations on cash held (79) 36
--------------------------
--------------------------
Cash and cash equivalents at March 31 851 2,190
--------------------------
--------------------------
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial
statements.
These consolidated financial statements have been approved by the Company's
directors.
Arian Silver Corporation
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (Unaudited)
For the three months ended March 31, 2008 and March 31, 2007
(In U.S. dollars)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Share Foreign
based exchange
Share payment translation Retained
Capital reserve reserve Earnings Total
$'000 $'000 $'000 $'000 $'000
----------------------------------------------------
Period to March 31, 2007
Opening Balance 22,448 947 (910) (18,062) 4,423
Share issue costs (94) - - - (94)
Fair value of share
options - 119 - - 119
Proceeds from options
exercised 147 - - - 147
Proceeds from warrants
exercised 365 - - - 365
Net loss - - - (1,047) (1,047)
Foreign exchange loss - - (4) - (4)
----------------------------------------------------
Balance March 31, 2007 22,866 1,066 (914) (19,109) 3,909
Period to March 31, 2008
Opening Balance 29,852 2,068 (865) (22,955) 8,100
Share issue costs - - - - -
Fair value of share
options - 60 - - 60
Proceeds from
options exercised - - - - -
Proceeds from
warrants exercised - - - - -
Net loss - - - (903) (903)
Foreign exchange loss - - (8) - (8)
----------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------
Balance March 31, 2008 29,852 2,128 (873) (23,858) 7,249
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