Asanko Gold Reports Q4 and 2016 Full Year Results
(firmenpresse) - VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/16/17 -- Asanko Gold Inc. ("Asanko" or the "Company") (TSX: AKG)(NYSE MKT: AKG) reports its 2016 fourth quarter ("Q4") and full year ("FY") operating and financial results. The Company released its production and revenue results for Q4 on January 11, 2017. All amounts are in US dollars unless otherwise stated. Management will host a conference call and webcast today at 9am Eastern Time, further details below.
2016 FY Highlights:
Commenting on the Company''s performance, Peter Breese, President and CEO, said "The Asanko Gold Mine has had an exceptional first year of operations, delivering above expectations quarter-on-quarter across the key metrics of throughput, recovery, gold production and costs. This was all achieved without compromising the safety of our people, which is our number one priority, and we are proud to be one of the safest mines in the industry, with a rolling lost time injury frequency rate of 0.20 per million man-hours worked.
Our low cost near-mine exploration strategy yielded successful results, demonstrating the prospectivity of our land package, with the discovery of three additional, at surface satellite deposits, Akwasiso, Nkran Extension and Adubiaso Extension. These oxide ores, all within a 5km radius of the processing plant, are cheap to mine and process, producing incremental low cost ounces which will lower the operation''s AISC profile in 2018 and 2019.
The Company''s financial performance strengthened during the year, with gross gold revenues of $185 million, $74.5 million in cash provided by operating activities since commercial production, working capital building from $66 million to $73 million, and a robust balance sheet with $67 million in cash, receivables and bullion at year end. In addition, the terms of the $150 million loan facility were amended during the year to defer principal payments until July 1, 2018, to enable the Company to re-invest in its highly accretive organic growth projects.
We enter 2017 in a strong position, with a substantial increase in production forecast at 230-240,000 ounces for the year at AISC of US$880-920 per ounce, and we are currently tracking our guidance. Bush clearing at Dynamite Hill is due to commence shortly, ahead of mining operations commencing in H2 2017, augmenting the Nkran ore feed with near mine, at surface oxide tonnes reducing costs and the risks associated with a single pit operation.
Looking further ahead, the Company remains committed to its strategic objective of becoming a mid-tier gold mining company and has a clear pathway to deliver this growth over the next three years, targeting approx. 450,000 ounces by 2020, which will be outlined in the Expansion feasibility study in Q2 2017. Project 5 Million, the plant upgrade from 3.6Mtpa to 5Mtpa, is currently ahead of schedule and due to be commissioned in Q4 2017. This, combined with our next major mine, Esaase, which was recently permitted along with the overland conveyor, will be funded from internal cash flow."
Key Operating and Financial Highlights
Asanko Gold Mine, 100% basis
Q4 2016 Operating Results
Q4 2016 Financial Performance
Q4 2016 Liquidity and Capital Resources
2017 Outlook and Opportunities
Notes:
(1) Non-GAAP Performance Measures
The Company has included certain non-GAAP performance measures in this press release, including working capital, adjusted net income (loss), adjusted net income (loss) per share, operating cash costs, total cash costs, all-in sustaining costs per ounce of gold produced. These non-GAAP performance measures do not have any standardized meaning. Accordingly, these performance measures are 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.
(2) Operating Cash Costs per ounce and Total Cash Costs per ounce
Operating cash costs are reflective of the cost of production, adjusted for share-based payments and by-product revenue for each ounce of gold sold. Total cash costs include production royalties of 5%.
(3) All-in Sustaining Costs Per Gold Ounce
The Company has adopted the reporting of "all-in sustaining costs per gold ounce" ("AISC") as per the World Gold Council''s guidance. AISC include total cash costs, corporate overhead expenses, sustaining capital expenditure, capitalized stripping costs and reclamation cost accretion for each ounce of gold sold.
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About Asanko Gold Inc.
Asanko''s vision is to become a mid-tier gold mining company that maximizes value for all its stakeholders. The Company''s flagship project is the multi-million ounce Asanko Gold Mine located in Ghana, West Africa. The mine is being developed in phases. Phase 1 commenced gold production in January 2016 and declared commercial production on April 1, 2016. Ramp-up to steady state production was achieved in Q2 2016.
Asanko is managed by highly skilled and successful technical, operational and financial professionals. The Company is strongly committed to the highest standards for environmental management, social responsibility, and health and safety for its employees and neighbouring communities.
Forward-Looking and other Cautionary Information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address estimated resource quantities, grades and contained metals, possible future mining, exploration and development activities, are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements should not be in any way construed as guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices for metals, the conclusions of detailed feasibility and technical analyses, the timely renewal of key permits, lower than expected grades and quantities of resources, mining rates and recovery rates and the lack of availability of necessary capital, which may not be available to the Company on terms acceptable to it or at all. The Company is subject to the specific risks inherent in the mining business as well as general economic and business conditions. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company''s Annual Form 40-F filing with the United States Securities Commission and its home jurisdiction filings that are available at .
Neither Toronto Stock Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Cautionary Note to US Investors Regarding Mineral Reporting Standards:
Asanko has prepared its disclosure in accordance with the requirements of securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of US securities laws. Terms relating to mineral resources in this press release are defined in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. The Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") permits mining companies, in their filings with the SEC, to disclose only those mineral deposits that a company can economically and legally extract or produce. Asanko uses certain terms, such as, "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources", "inferred mineral resources" and "probable mineral reserves", that the SEC does not recognize (these terms may be used in this press release and are included in the public filings of Asanko which have been filed with securities commissions or similar authorities in Canada).
Contacts:
Asanko Gold Inc.
Alex Buck
Manager, Investor and Media Relations
Toll-Free (N.America): 1-855-246-7341
+44-7932-740-452
Asanko Gold Inc.
Wayne Drier
Executive, Corporate Development
+1-778-729-0614
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Datum: 16.03.2017 - 06:00 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 1492946
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