New Millennium Announces Financial Results for the First Quarter
Ended March 31, 2014
CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwired - May 15, 2014) - New Millennium
Iron Corp. ("NML" or the "Corporation") (TSX:NML) (OTCQX:NWLNF)
today announced its financial results for the first quarter ended
March 31, 2014.
The following review
of the Company's financial performance is based on the unaudited
Condensed Interim Consolidated Financial Statements ("Financial
Statements") and Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A"),
which have been filed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com.
Progress continued
in the first quarter in NML's principal areas of activity, two of
which involve projects being carried out with strategic partner and
shareholder Tata Steel Limited.
The Direct Shipping
Ore Project through a 20% ownership interest in Tata Steel Minerals
Canada Ltd. ("TSMC"), operator of the Project: (1) Progress on
construction of the covered ore processing plant and ancillary
facilities; and (2) positive results from the 2012 drilling program
showing a 23.45% increase in indicated resource estimate.
On NML's Taconite
Project, announcement of Feasibility Study results and
techno-economic viability of the Taconite Project, along with
implementation plan, and, subsequent to the quarter, filing on the
SEDAR website of the NI 43-101 compliant Technical Reports on the
Feasibility Study results.
At the general NML
corporate level, Mr. Robert Patzelt, Q.C. succeeding Mr. Dean
Journeaux as President and CEO of the Corporation, and, subsequent
to the quarter, adoption of an advance notice by- law regarding
nominations of persons for election as a director of the
Corporation
The Company's
working capital at March 31, 2014 is $32,978,000 (December 31, 2013
- $35,291,000).The net loss for the three months ended March 31,
2014, is $1,735,000 ($0.01 per share) compared to a net loss of
$2,001,000 ($0.01 per share) for the comparative period in 2013.
This loss represents general and administrative expenses of
$2,034,000 (2013- $2,303,000) partially offset by service fee
revenue of $17,000 (2013 - $106,000), investment income of $282,000
(2013 - $194,000) and other income of nil (2013 - $2,000). The most
significant components of the general and administrative expenses
were: stock based compensation of $645,000 (2013 - $1,203,000) and
professional fees of $427,000 (2013 - $219,000). During the
quarter, NML recorded $338,000 (2013 - $664,000) received from Tata
Steel Global Minerals Holdings PTE Ltd. ("Tata Steel") in relation
to its option on the LabMag Project and KéMag Project as a
reduction of general of administrative expenses on its statement of
comprehensive income. The investment income increased due to the
higher interest rate being earned on a loan to TSMC (see Note 8 to
the Financial Statements). The service fee revenue decreased as
TSMC is utilizing less of NML's resources as they continue to build
up their own team.
As at March 31,
2014, the Company's mineral exploration and evaluation assets
increased to $62,069,000 from $61,138,000 as of December 31, 2013,
or by $931,000. The components of mineral properties at March 31,
2014, were: mineral licences of $2,968,000, drilling of
$35,360,000, resource evaluation of $38,206,000, environmental of
$18,441,000, and amortization of property and equipment of
$158,000, net of tax credits and mining duties of $13,669,000 and
the Tata Steel payments of $19,395,000.
About New
Millennium
The Corporation
controls the emerging Millennium Iron Range, located in the
Province of Newfoundland and Labrador and in the Province of
Quebec, which holds one of the world's largest undeveloped magnetic
iron ore deposits. In the same area, the Corporation and Tata Steel
Limited ("Tata Steel"), one of the largest steel producers in the
world, have advanced a Direct Shipping Ore ("DSO") Project to the
production stage, from which trial shipments have begun. Tata Steel
owns approximately 26.2% of New Millennium and is the Corporation's
largest shareholder and strategic partner.
Tata Steel exercised
its exclusive option to participate in the DSO Project and has a
commitment to take the resulting production (see news release 10-16
dated September 14, 2010). The DSO Project is owned and operated by
Tata Steel Minerals Canada Limited ("TSMC"), which in turn is 80%
owned by Tata Steel and 20% owned by NML. The DSO Project contains
98.9 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources at
an average grade of 59.3% Fe, 6.7 million tonnes of Inferred
Resources at an average grade of 56.7% Fe and about 20.0 - 25.0
million tonnes of historical resources that are not currently in
compliance with NI 43-101 (see news release 09-03 dated February
11, 2009, news release 09-05 dated March 4, 2009, news release
09-16 dated December 9, 2009, news release 10-12 dated July 8,
2010, news release 12-14, dated May 31, 2012 and news release 14-02
dated February 24, 2014). A qualified person has not done
sufficient work to classify the historical estimate as current
mineral resources or mineral reserves, the Corporation is not
treating the historical estimate as current mineral resources or
mineral reserves and the historical estimate should not be relied
upon.
LabMag contains 3.9
billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at a grade of 29.7%
Fe plus 376 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated resources at
an average grade of 29.6% Fe and 891.0 million tonnes of Inferred
resources at an average grade of 29.3% Fe. KéMag contains 2.4
billion tonnes of Proven and Probable reserves at an average grade
of 30.6% Fe and 1.0 billion tonnes of Inferred resources at an
average grade of 31.7% Fe (See Tables 2, 3 & 4 in news release
14-04 dated March 27, 2014). Tata Steel also exercised its
exclusive right to negotiate and settle a proposed transaction in
respect of development of either or both the LabMag and the KéMag
deposits (see news release 11-09 dated March 6, 2011).
The Millennium Iron
Range now hosts other taconite deposits. The first is the Lac
Ritchie property located at the north end of the Range. The initial
2011 drilling of 40 holes in this property revealed Indicated
Resources of 3.330 billion tonnes at an average grade of 30.3% Fe,
and Inferred Resources of 1.437 billion tonnes at an average grade
of 30.9% Fe (see news release NR 12-11, dated April 02, 2012).
Two other taconite
deposits are located south of the LabMag deposit in the Millennium
Iron Range. The initial 2012 drilling of 23 holes in the Sheps Lake
property and of 50 holes in the Perault Lake property revealed
Indicated Resources of 3.580 billion tonnes at an average grade of
31.22%, and Inferred Resources of 795 million tonnes at an average
grade of 30.56% (see news release NR 13-04, dated February 11,
2013).
The Howells Lake -
Howells River North deposit is located between the LabMag and KéMag
deposits, and evidences mineral continuity in the Range. The 2011
and 2012 drilling of 11 holes in the Howells River North property
and of 45 holes in the Howells Lake property, revealed Indicated
Resources of 7.631 billion tonnes at an average grade of 30.39% Fe,
and Inferred Resources of 3.310 billion tonnes at an average grade
of 29.83% Fe (see news release NR 13-15, dated May 23, 2013).
The Corporation's
mission is to add shareholder value through the responsible and
expeditious development of the Millennium Iron Range and other
mineral projects to create a new large source of raw materials for
the world's iron and steel industries.
For further
information, please visit www.NMLiron.com, www.tatasteel.com,
www.tatasteelcanada.com, and www.tatasteeleurope.com.
Dean Journeaux,
Eng., Moulaye Melainine, Eng., and Thiagarajan Balakrishnan, P.
Geo., are the Qualified Persons as defined in National Instrument
43-101 who have reviewed and verified the scientific and technical
mining disclosure contained in this news release.
Forward-Looking
Statements
This news release
contains certain forward looking statements and forward looking
information (collectively referred to herein as "forward looking
statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities
laws. All statements other than statements of present or historical
fact are forward looking statements. Forward looking information is
often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as
"could", "should", "can", "anticipate", "expect", "believe",
"will", "may", "projected", "sustain", "continues", "strategy",
"potential", "projects", "grow", "take advantage", "estimate",
"well positioned" or similar words suggesting future outcomes. In
particular, this news release may contain forward looking
statements relating to future opportunities, business strategies,
mineral exploration, development and production plans and
competitive advantages.
The forward looking
statements regarding the Corporation are based on certain key
expectations and assumptions of the Corporation concerning
anticipated financial performance, business prospects, strategies,
regulatory developments, exchange rates, tax laws, the sufficiency
of budgeted capital expenditures in carrying out planned
activities, the availability and cost of labour and services and
the ability to obtain financing on acceptable terms, the actual
results of exploration and development projects being equivalent to
or better than estimated results in technical reports or prior
activities, and future costs and expenses being based on historical
costs and expenses, adjusted for inflation, all of which are
subject to change based on market conditions and potential timing
delays. Although management of the Corporation consider these
assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently
available to them, they may prove to be incorrect.
By their very
nature, forward looking statements involve inherent risks and
uncertainties (both general and specific) and risks that forward
looking statements will not be achieved. Undue reliance should not
be placed on forward looking statements, as a number of important
factors could cause the actual results to differ materially from
the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations and anticipations,
estimates and intentions expressed in the forward looking
statements, including among other things: inability of the
Corporation to continue meet the listing requirements of stock
exchanges and other regulatory requirements, general economic and
market factors, including business competition, changes in
government regulations or in tax laws; general political and social
uncertainties; commodity prices; the actual results of exploration,
development or operational activities; changes in project
parameters as plans continue to be refined; accidents and other
risks inherent in the mining industry; lack of insurance; delay or
failure to receive board or regulatory approvals; changes in
legislation, including environmental legislation, affecting the
Corporation; timing and availability of external financing on
acceptable terms; conclusions of, or estimates contained in,
feasibility studies, pre- feasibility studies or other economic
evaluations; and lack of qualified, skilled labour or loss of key
individuals; as well as those factors detailed from time to time in
the Corporation's interim and annual financial statements and
management's discussion and analysis of those statements, along
with the Corporation's annual information form, all of which are
filed and available for review on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Readers
are cautioned that the foregoing list is not exhaustive.
The forward looking
statements contained herein are expressly qualified in their
entirety by this cautionary statement. The forward looking
statements included in this news release are made as of the date of
this news release and the Corporation does not undertake and is not
obligated to publicly update such forward looking statements to
reflect new information, subsequent events or otherwise unless so
required by applicable securities laws.
With respect to the
disclosure of historical resources in this news release that are
not currently in compliance with National Instrument 43-101, a
qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the
historical estimate as current mineral resources or mineral
reserves, the Corporation is not treating the historical estimate
as current mineral resources or mineral reserves and the historical
estimate should not be relied upon.
New Millennium Iron Corp.Robert PatzeltPresident & Chief
Executive Officer(709) 770-2635 or (514) 935-3204 ext. 370New
Millennium Iron Corp.Ernest DempseyVice-President, Investor
Relations and Corporate Affairs(514) 935-3204 ext. 349New
Millennium Iron Corp.Andreas CurkovicInvestor Relations(416)
577-9927