AURIZON ANNOUNCES FIRST QUARTER 2011 OPERATING RESULTS
April 08 2011 - 6:55PM
PR Newswire (Canada)
VANCOUVER, April 8 /CNW/ -- Shares Listed: Toronto Stock Exchange -
Ticker Symbol - ARZ NYSE Amex - Ticker Symbol - AZK U.S.
Registration: (File 001-31893) News Release Issue No. 9 -
2011 VANCOUVER, April 8 /CNW/ - Aurizon Mines Ltd. (TSX: ARZ) (NYSE
Amex: AZK) announces its operating results for the first quarter of
2011. Aurizon plans to release its first quarter 2011 financial
results on or about May 12, 2011, and will hold a conference call
to discuss the results. Details of the call, including times
and contact numbers, will be announced closer to the date. Gold
production from the Casa Berardi mine in the first quarter of 2011
totalled 31,976 ounces, 12% lower than budget and 9% lower than the
first quarter 2010 production of 35,188 ounces. Ore processed
in the first quarter 2011 amounted to 161,036 tonnes at an average
grade of 6.9 grams of gold per tonne. Metallurgical recoveries
were 90.2%. Changes to the mining sequence were required in the
first quarter of 2011 due to mining conditions in the eastern
sector of Zone 113. This impacted both ore throughput and ore
grades. As the gold grade of the individual stopes at Casa
Berardi varies from 5 grams per tonne up to 12 grams per tonne or
higher, a delay in the extraction of a high grade stope can impact
quarterly results but is not expected to impact results for the
year. Additionally, underground mining equipment downtime impacted
productivities. The 2011 capital budget provided for equipment
replacements, which are scheduled to be delivered over the course
of the year. Accordingly, the Company expects first quarter total
cash costs to be significantly higher than the forecast for 2011 of
US$495 per ounce. The mine plan for 2011 had projected that
the first quarter would be the weakest in terms of throughput,
grade and ounces produced. The 2011 plan also anticipates
higher ore throughput for the balance of the year and higher ore
grades in the second half of the year. Total cash costs per ounce
should decrease significantly as the year progresses. Based upon
first quarter results and a review of the mine plan for the balance
of the year, the Company now expects gold production for 2011 to be
approximately 165,000 ounces compared to the previously announced
guidance of 165,000 to 170,000 ounces. During the first quarter of
2011, Aurizon sold 34,305 ounces of gold at an average price of
US$1,392 per ounce for revenues of $46.9 million. About Aurizon
Aurizon is a gold producer with a growth strategy focused on
developing its existing projects in the Abitibi region of
north-western Quebec, one of the world's most favourable mining
jurisdictions and prolific gold and base metal regions, and by
increasing its asset base through accretive
transactions. Aurizon shares trade on the Toronto Stock
Exchange under the symbol "ARZ" and on the NYSE Amex under the
symbol "AZK". Additional information on Aurizon and its
properties is available on Aurizon's website at
http://www.aurizon.com. Non GAAP Information Total cash costs per
ounce of gold Aurizon has included a non-GAAP performance measure
of total cash costs per ounce of gold in this release. Aurizon
reports total cash costs on a sales basis. In the gold mining
industry, this is a common performance measure but does not have
any standardized meaning, and is a non-GAAP measure. The
Company believes that, in addition to conventional measures
prepared in accordance with GAAP, certain investors use this
information to evaluate the Company's performance and ability to
generate cash flow. Accordingly, it is intended to provide
additional information and should not be considered in isolation or
as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance
with GAAP. Total cash costs per gold ounce are derived from
amounts included in the statements of earnings and include mine
site operating costs such as mining, processing and administration,
but exclude amortization, reclamation costs, financing costs and
capital development costs. The costs included in the
calculation of total cash costs per ounce of gold are reduced by
silver by-product sales and then divided by gold ounces sold and
the average Bank of Canada Cad$/US$ exchange rate. Forward-looking
Information Estimates regarding production, costs and expected
recoveries at Casa Berardi in 2011 and the Company's budgets and
planned exploration and development programs on its various
properties for 2011 constitutes 'forward-looking information'
within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation
and will be updated if required under applicable Canadian
securities laws. This information is provided as general
guidance only and is based on assumptions and subject to risks as
described below. Readers are cautioned that actual results may
vary from the forward-looking information disclosed.
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS This news release contains
"forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable securities regulations in Canada
and the United States (collectively, "forward-looking
information"). The forward-looking information contained in
this news release is made as of the date of this news
release. Except as required under applicable securities
legislation, the Company does not intend, and does not assume any
obligation to update this forward-looking
information. Forward-looking information includes, but is not
limited to, statements regarding the Company's expectations and
estimates as to future gold production, total cash costs per ounce,
onsite mining, milling and administration costs and sustaining
capital expenditures at Casa Berardi, the Company's expected
expenditures and planned programs on its properties for
2011. In addition, forward-looking information includes
statements with respect to estimated mineral reserves and
resources, anticipated effects of drill results on the Company's
projects, timing and expectations of future development,
exploration, and work programs. Often, but not always,
forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words
such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "believes",
or the negatives thereof or variations of such words and phrases or
statements that certain actions, events, or results "may", "could",
"would", "might", or "will", be taken, occur or be achieved. The
forward-looking information expresses, as at the date of this news
release, the Company's plans, estimates, forecasts, and
expectations, as to future events or results and are based on
certain assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable, and
the further assumptions that past operational performance will
continue, there will be no material disruption in operations,
demand for and the price of gold will be sustained or will improve,
the supply of gold will remain stable, that the general business
and economic conditions will not change in a material adverse
manner, that financing will be available if and when needed on
reasonable terms and that the Company will not experience any
material accident, labour dispute, or failure of plant and
equipment. However, forward-looking information involves known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the
actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be
materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
information. Such factors include, among others, conclusions
of economic evaluations, the risk that actual results of
development and exploration activities will be different than
anticipated, that cost of labour, equipment or materials will
increase more than expected, that the future price of gold will
decline, that the Canadian dollar will strengthen against the U.S.
dollar, that mineral reserves and resources are not as estimated,
that actual costs or actual results of reclamation activities are
greater than expected; that changes in project parameters as plans
continue to be refined may result in increased costs, of unexpected
variations in mineral reserves and resources, grade or recover
rates, of failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as
anticipated, of accidents, labour disputes and other risks
generally associated with mining, unanticipated delays in obtaining
governmental approvals or financing or in the completion of
development or construction activities, as well as those factors
and other risks more fully described in Aurizon's Annual
Information Form filed with the securities commission of all
of the provinces and territories of Canada and in Aurizon's
Annual Report on Form 40-F filed with the United States Securities
and Exchange Commission, which are available on Sedar at
www.sedar.com and on Edgar at www.sec.gov/. Although the
Company has attempted to identify important factors that could
cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from
those described in forward-looking information, there may be other
factors that cause actions, events or results to not be as
anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the
inherent uncertainty thereof. To view this news release in HTML
formatting, please use the following URL:
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2011/08/c2843.html
p /p table valign="top" border="0" cellspacing="0" tr valign="top"
td valign="top" colspan="5" align="center" bAURIZON MINES LTD./b
/td /tr tr valign="top" td valign="top" align="center" David Hall,
President and C.E.O.br/ Telephone: (604) 687-6600br/ Toll Free:
1-888-411-GOLDbr/ Fax: (604) 687-3932 /td td align="right"
/td td align="right" /td td align="right" /td td
valign="top" align="center" Martin Bergeron, Vice President,
Operationsbr/ Telephone: (819) 874-4511br/ Fax: (819) 874-3391 /td
/tr tr valign="top" td valign="top" colspan="5" align="center" Web
Site: a href="http://www.aurizon.com"www.aurizon.co/aa
href="http://www.aurizon.com"m/a Email: a
href="mailto:info@aurizon.com"info@aurizon.com/a /td /tr tr td
/td /tr tr valign="top" td valign="top" colspan="5"
align="center" or /td /tr tr td /td /tr tr valign="top" td
valign="top" colspan="5" align="center" bRenmark Financial
Communications Inc. /bbr/ 1050 - 3400 De Maisonneuve Blvd
Westbr/ Montreal, QC H3Z 3B8br/ Barry Mire: a
href="http://bmire@renmarkfinancial.com"b/aa
href="mailto:bmire@renmarkfinancial.com"mire@renmarkfinancial.com/abr/
Maurice Dagenais: a
href="mailto:mdagenais@renmarkfinancial.com"mdagenais@renmarkfinancial.com/abr/
Media: Guy Hurd: a
href="mailto:ghurd@renmarkfinancial.com"ghurd@renmarkfinancial.com/abr/
Tel: (514) 939-3989 Fax: (514) 939-3717 /td /tr /table p
/p
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