VANCOUVER, BC, May 11, 2021 /PRNewswire/ - Aris Gold
Corporation (Aris Gold or the Company) (TSX: ARIS) (OTCQX:
ALLXF) reports Q1 2021 financial and operating results and the
voting results of its Annual General Meeting (AGM) held earlier
today. All amounts are in US dollars, unless otherwise
indicated.
Highlights of Financial and Operating Results
Aris Gold has continued to advance the Lower Mine project at the
Marmato mine in Colombia, with
notable developments including:
- The Company successfully negotiated a 30-year extension of the
mining title at the Marmato mine to October
2051, which included an agreement with the Agencia Nacional
de Mineria (ANM) allowing Aris Gold to proceed with its expansion
plans for the Lower Mine.
- The escrow release conditions under the Aris Gold-led financing
were satisfied and C$85 million of
cash in escrow was released.
- Following the completion of a competitive tender process, Aris
Gold awarded the engineering, procurement and construction
management (EPCM) contract to Wood, a global leader in consulting
and engineering with extensive experience delivering mining
projects across Latin
America.
- On April 15, 2021, Aris Gold
received $34 million of the
$110 million precious metals stream
financing from Wheaton Precious Metals International Ltd. Under the
terms of the precious metals purchase agreement, the remaining
$76 million will be received in three
installments as the development of the Lower Mine progresses.
- Aris Gold strengthened its operating and construction teams at
Marmato with the reorganization of management and the addition of
two senior operations executives.
- Aris Gold continued with the 35,000-metre drill program at
Marmato which commenced in May 2020,
with the principal objective of converting Inferred Mineral
Resources to Indicated Mineral Resources while also testing several
newly discovered areas. Consistent with previous results under the
program, drilling during the first quarter of 2021 continued to
show high-grade mineralization over broad widths demonstrating
potential to extend the 13-year mine life outlined in the Marmato
Technical Report. As of May 2021,
this drill program is approximately 60% complete.
- Aris Gold continued to advance its community projects. The
Company completed construction of a new municipal park in the
community of Marmato in March 2021,
and expects to complete construction in May
2021 of a modern new community centre which will provide a
central location for education and training.
Q1 2021 Financial and Operating Highlights
- Revenue totalled $13.6 million in
the first quarter of 2021, 29% higher than the first quarter of
2020, primarily due to the 14% increase in the average realized
gold price to $1,802 per ounce and
the 13% increase in gold ounces sold to 7,412 in the first quarter
of 2021.
- Aris Gold incurred a total of $7.1
million of capital expenditures for the three months ended
March 31, 2021. This was comprised of
the $4.3 million spent on the Lower
Mine, including $2.0 million for the
Lower Mine drilling campaign, and $2.8
million in the Marmato Upper Mine, including $1.1 million of non-sustaining and other capital
relating to the modernization of the operations and $1.7 million of sustaining capital primarily
related to underground mine development.
- At March 31, 2021, Aris Gold had
cash and cash equivalents of $143.4
million, representing an increase from $32.0 million at the end of 2020, primarily due
to the receipt of funds from escrow related to the Gold-linked
notes and the Aris Gold-led financing, partially offset by cash
outflows from operating and investing activities. On April 15, 2021, Aris Gold received $34 million of the $110
million precious metals stream financing.
- In the first quarter of 2021, Aris Gold reported a net loss of
$8.4 million ($0.07 per share) (Q1 2020: $17.6 million ($0.47 per share)). This was primarily driven by
the decrease in margin from mining operations and once-off
acquisition and restructuring costs of $12.8
million (Q1 2020: nil).
Aris Gold's Q1 2021 financial statements and related MD&A
are available on SEDAR and in the Investors section of Aris
Gold's website here.
AGM Voting Results
Shareholders holding 102,742,026 shares or 74.54% of the
outstanding shares of the Company participated directly or were
represented by proxy at the AGM. The meeting voting results are as
follows.
Election of Directors
The number of directors to be elected was fixed at eight and the
following directors were elected to the Board:
Nominee
|
Votes
for
|
%
for
|
Votes
withheld
|
%
withheld
|
Ian Telfer
|
101,577,079
|
99.999%
|
665
|
0.001%
|
Neil
Woodyer
|
101,575,179
|
99.997%
|
2,565
|
0.003%
|
Daniela
Cambone
|
101,534,334
|
99.957%
|
43,410
|
0.043%
|
David
Garofalo
|
101,318,716
|
99.745%
|
259,028
|
0.255%
|
Serafino
Iacono
|
101,316,716
|
99.743%
|
261,028
|
0.257%
|
Peter
Marrone
|
101,577,179
|
99.999%
|
565
|
0.001%
|
Hernan
Martinez
|
101,577,244
|
100.000%
|
500
|
0.000%
|
Attie Roux
|
101,575,079
|
99.997%
|
2,665
|
0.003%
|
Appointment of Auditors
KPMG LLP were re-appointed as auditors of the Company for the
ensuing year with their remuneration to be set by the Board.
|
Votes
for
|
%
for
|
Votes
withheld
|
%
withheld
|
KPMG LLP
|
102,119,070
|
99.959%
|
41,756
|
0.041%
|
About Aris Gold
Aris Gold is a Canadian mining company listed on the TSX under
the symbol ARIS. The Company is led by an executive team with a
demonstrated track record of creating value through building
globally relevant gold mining companies. Aris Gold operates the
Marmato mine in Colombia, where a
modernization and expansion program is underway, and the Juby
project, an advanced exploration stage gold project in the Abitibi
greenstone belt of Ontario,
Canada. Aris Gold plans to pursue acquisition and other
growth opportunities to unlock value creation from scale and
diversification.
Additional information on Aris Gold can be found at
www.arisgold.com and www.sedar.com.
Forward-looking Information
This news release contains "forward-looking information" or
forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian
securities legislation. All statements included herein, other than
statements of historical fact, including without
limitation statements relating to receipt of the remaining
funds under the stream financing and advancement of community
projects are forward-looking. Generally, the forward-looking
information and forward looking statements can be identified by the
use of forward looking terminology such as "plans", "expects" or
"does not expect", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled",
"estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not
anticipate", "will continue" or "believes", or variations of such
words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results
"may", "could", "would", "might" or "will be taken", "occur" or "be
achieved". Statements concerning mineral resource estimates may
also be deemed to constitute forward looking information to the
extent that they involve estimates of the mineralization that will
be encountered. The material factors or assumptions used to develop
forward looking information or statements are disclosed throughout
this presentation.
Forward looking information and forward looking statements,
while based on management's best estimates and assumptions, are
subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance
or achievements of Aris Gold to be materially different from those
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information or forward
looking statements, including but not limited to: the ability of
the Aris Gold management team to successfully integrate with the
current operations, risks related to international operations,
risks related to general economic conditions, uncertainties
relating to operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, actual results
of current exploration activities, availability of quality assets
that will add scale, diversification and complement Aris Gold's
growth trajectory; changes in project parameters as plans continue
to be refined; fluctuations in prices of metals including gold; the
ability to convert mineral resources to mineral reserves;
fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates, increases in
market prices of mining consumables, risks associated with holding
derivative instruments (such as credit risks, market liquidity risk
and mark-to-market risk), possible variations in mineral reserves,
grade or recovery rates; failure of plant, equipment or processes
to operate as anticipated; changes in national and local government
legislation, taxation, controls, regulations, regulations and
political or economic developments in Canada or Colombia, accidents and operations, labour
disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance
coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in
obtaining governmental approvals including obtaining required
environmental and other licenses, or in the completion of
development or construction activities, changes in national and
local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and
regulations, and political and economic developments in countries
in which the Company operates, as well as those factors discussed
in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in Aris Gold's most recent
AIF available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
Although Aris Gold has attempted to identify important factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from those
contained in forward-looking information and forward-looking
statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be
as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance
that such information or statements will prove to be accurate, as
actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such information or statements. The Company has and
continues to disclose in its Management's Discussion and Analysis
and other publicly filed documents, changes to material factors or
assumptions underlying the forward-looking information and
forward-looking statements and to the validity of the information,
in the period the changes occur. The forward-looking statements and
forward-looking information are made as of the date hereof and Aris
Gold disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to
publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the
forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained
herein to reflect future results. Accordingly, readers should not
place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and
information.
This announcement does not constitute an offer of securities for
sale in the United States, nor may
any securities referred to herein be offered or sold in
the United States absent
registration or an exemption from registration as provided in the
U.S. Securities Act of 1933 as amended (the "Securities Act") and
the rules and regulations thereunder. The securities referred to
herein have not been registered pursuant to the Securities Act and
there is no intention to register any of the securities in
the United States or to conduct a
public offering of securities in the
United States.
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SOURCE Aris Gold Corporation