Final Results

RNS Number : 1277J

Great Western Mining Corp. plc

08 April 2020

 

GREAT WESTERN MINING CORPORATION PLC

("Great Western" or the "Company")

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2019

Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (AIM - GWMO, Euronext Growth - 8GW) publishes its results for the year ended 31 December 2019.  The Company is in the exploration, appraisal and development phase and currently has no revenues.

Financial Highlights:

· Loss for year €815,795 (2018: loss of €992,774)

· Basic and diluted loss per share 0.001 (cent): (2018: 0.002)

· Net assets at year end: €6.2 million (2018: €6.6 million)

· Placing of new shares raised £355,505 at Stg 0.08p a share

Operational Highlights

·         Strategy refocused on precious metals with positive results achieved from sampling at Mineral Jackpot and RH Group

·         Other precious metals targets on the Company's claims under review

·         Management team changes

·         Business development consultant retained to assist with new ventures and possible partnerships for development of  the Company's large mineral portfolio

·         Review of financing and partnership options to fast-track copper mineralisation process

Post Period End

· Laboratory sampling indicated a doubling of the footprint for gold and silver mineralisation at Mineral Jackpot

· Grab sample from Mineral Jackpot yielded an assay of 27.4 g/t Au, 151 g/t Ag and 0.14% Cu

· Soil sampling at RH clearly identified three new separate highly-prospective zones of mineralisation

·         Placing of new shares raised £320,000 at Stg 0.11p a share - proceeds will be used to accelerate exploitation of gold     prospects

· Active programme for 2020, currently suspended during COVID-19 virus travel restrictions

Brian Hall, Executive Chairman, commented: "We have made great strides in establishing the precious metals potential on our properties in the last few months and our 2020 season operational plans are all ready to activate as soon as COVID-19 restrictions permit.  In the meantime we are rigorously controlling our costs and using the current downtime to evaluate several possible new opportunities for the Company.  We have maintained our schedule for production of the annual results but have deferred calling the AGM during the present emergency.  The Annual Report and Financial Statements can be found on the Company's website www.greatwesternmining.com in the Investors section."

For further information:

Great Western Mining Corporation PLC
Brian Hall, Chairman	[phone] (via Walbrook PR)
Max Williams, Finance Director	[phone] (via Walbrook PR)
Davy (NOMAD, Euronext Growth Adviser & Joint Broker) John Frain	[phone]
Novum Securities (Joint Broker) Jon Belliss	[phone]
ETX Capital (Joint Broker)  Philip Adler	[phone]
Walbrook PR (PR advisers) Nick Rome/Nicholas Johnson	[phone]

Executive Chairman's Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2019

Dear Shareholder,

Here are Great Western Mining Corporation PLC's Annual Report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2019. The Group does not yet generate revenues and incurred a loss of €815,795 (2018: €992,774).

A number of important changes and a refocusing of the Company's activities have occurred since we last reported to shareholders in September with the 2019 half-year results.  In November David Fraser resigned as Chief Executive to pursue opportunities in another sector after six years at the helm, during which the Company greatly enhanced the potential for commercial copper on its properties in Mineral County, Nevada.  As foreseen in the 2019 Interim Report, Melvyn Quiller, one of the Company's founders, has now retired as Finance Director.  Max Williams, a Chartered Accountant with a strong track record in the financial management of publicly traded natural resource companies, was co-opted to the Board in November as Finance Director and will offer himself for election at the AGM.  I have now taken over the day to day management of the Company as Executive Chairman and, to strengthen our team and fulfil the aim of good corporate governance, we plan to appoint new independent directors to the Board in the near future.

In both the 2018 Annual Report and the 2019 Interim Statement, we indicated the Company's belief in the precious metals potential of its acreage in Nevada, the aptly-named 'Silver State'.  We have now taken this a stage further and are concentrating on precious metals.  In November 2019 we raised new capital to progress the potential for gold and silver extraction on the Company's mining leases in Nevada; and post period end in February 2020, we raised additional new capital at a higher placing price, to take the appraisal of gold and silver prospects to the next stage.  In November and December 2019, before the harsh Nevada winter closed in, a three-man Great Western team collected multiple soil samples at two selected properties, the Mineral Jackpot group of old mine workings and the Rock House ('RH') exploration play, Mineral Jackpot being the collective name for several old, long-abandoned gold mines. Laboratory analysis of the soil sampling has now virtually doubled the footprint for gold extraction at these locations.  RH was never mined in the past but its potential for precious metals has been identified through satellite imagery, which the soil sampling exercise at the end of last year has now strongly confirmed.  As well as Mineral Jackpot and RH, there are several other areas in our acreage with the potential for precious metal recovery and these are currently being evaluated and prioritised by our technical team.  While we work on the potential for new gold mining operations, we shall also be looking at spoil heaps from historic mining operations with a view to leaching them for gold and silver.  If effective, this will produce early revenues for Great Western and we shall be following a well-trodden path which has often been successful at historic gold mines in Western Australia.

Focusing on precious metals at this stage does not detract from the major potential for copper which we have worked so hard to enhance for several years now, nor does it mean that we are abandoning our efforts in that area.  However, your current Board believes that prioritising gold and silver will provide earlier benefits for shareholders during a period when the market for gold is very strong. We are actively seeking partners to finance and develop the copper potential in parallel with our efforts to develop the precious metals potential.

At the time of writing, the effects of the Covid-19 virus all over the world are affecting our plans and restricting our ability to progress our field work.  In common with all other businesses we are having to review our operations on an almost daily basis.  While we will do our best to maintain the objectives of our 2020 work programme, there can be no certainty that we will achieve them.  All this said, our plan is to exploit the gold potential of our properties as soon as we can, find a partner with whom we can work on early development of copper and expand into carefully selected areas for precious metals outside our existing interests, with a view to growing the Company's base and spreading risk.

Due to the disruption to normal business caused by the COVID-19 virus we are not yet proposing a date for the Company's Annual General Meeting in the hope that, by delaying it, there will a stronger chance of shareholders being able to attend.  At the appropriate time we will mail a Notice of Meeting.  In the meantime the 2019 Annual Report and Accounts may be downloaded from our website www.greatwesternmining.com under the Investors section.  Any shareholder who would like to receive a hard copy should contact The Secretary, Great Western Mining Corporation PLC, 1 Stokes Place, Dublin 2, Ireland.

It remains for me to thank you, our shareholders, for your patience and continuing support.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Hall

Executive Chairman

Operations Report

For the year ended 31 December 2019

Principal activities, strategy and business model

The principal activity of the Group is to explore for and develop gold, silver, copper and other minerals. The Board aims to increase shareholder value by the systematic evaluation and exploitation of its existing assets in Mineral County, Nevada, USA and elsewhere as may become applicable.

Great Western's near-term objective is to develop small scale, short lead-time gold and silver projects which can potentially be brought into production under the control of the Group.

The Group's secondary objective is to progress the copper projects which it has already identified and enhanced through extensive drilling.  Such projects have potential for the discovery of large mineralised systems which can be monetised over the longer term, possibly through joint ventures with third parties.

Business development and performance

During the twelve months ended 31 December 2019, Great Western carried out exploration across its portfolio of six 100% owned claims groups in Nevada.

In September 2019 the Group reduced its land position through the relinquishment of 204 claims in the TUN, HUN and JS Groups which were considered no longer to have strategic value to the Group. The revised land position held by Great Western in Mineral County now consists of 800 full and fractional unpatented claims, covering a total land area of approximately 66.4 km².

Review by Project

The Black Mountain Group of Claims

The Black Mountain Group ("BM") lies on a south-west trending spur ridge of the Excelsior Range of mountains and comprises 247 full and fractional claims covering approximately 21 km².

During 2019, the Company conducted detailed geological mapping and appraisal at its recently acquired Silver Moon and Silver Bell prospects. These historic mining areas have previously been exploited for gold and silver ore and are considered by GWM to lie on the same structure as the Mineral Jackpot deposit to the north-west. At the very end of the year, before the onset of winter, the Company carried out comprehensive soil sampling to cover the Mineral Jackpot - Silver Bell trend and this yielded encouraging results, beyond expectations. Best results of 309 ppb gold from the soil programme demonstrate the potential of the area and the soil sampling confirms the Company theory of mineralisation continuity between the two areas. Surface trenching in 2020 will seek strike extents of known veins and new areas of mineralisation identified by the soil sampling.

The copper potential at M2 is significant and the M2 Deep Target is buried far beneath the existing M2 copper oxide resource which was defined by an earlier geophysical survey. This target could potentially extend the current copper resource for a further 500m along strike.  During 2019 two drill locations were permitted with the BLM in order to drill test the target and they remain current and valid.

The RH Group of Claims

The M7 gold-silver prospect lies within the Rock House ("RH") group of claims.  This area is accessible and lends itself to mining operations but was never mined in the past, its potential having only recently been identified through satellite imagery.  It is a circular structure associated with a magnetic low, adjacent to the prolific Golconda thrust fault.  The area is characterised by intense argillic and sericitic alteration, along with silicification and oxidation, within basement siltstones and slates.

During 2019 a soil and rock sampling programme identified three previously unexplored prospective areas: (1) The Eastern Shear Zone area covers 35,000 m² and contains Au-Cu-Pb-Sb anomalies within a 200m-long sheared and altered structure. Rock sampling within the structure returned 240 ppb gold and 0.13% copper.  (2) The Northern Slate Zone covers 700,000 m² of variably altered slates containing numerous Au-Cu-Ni anomalies, along the suspected northern contact with the Golconda fault. (3) The Southern Alteration Zone is an area of intense phyllic and silicic alteration within host siltstones, containing very strong Au-Ag-Sb-As-W signatures.

Upcoming plans for the area include a closer-spaced soil programme over the Northern Slate Zone, followed up rock sampling in previously unsampled area of the Eastern Shear Zone and the Southern Alteration Zone and an application for surface disturbance works to conduct trenching and drilling in the most prospective areas as soon as possible.

The Huntoon Group of Claims

107 full and 12 fractional claims surround the workings of the historic underground Huntoon gold mine and are prospective for gold, silver and copper mineralisation.  The claims are located on the north-west side of the Huntoon Valley, covering approximately 10 km².  The Company is actively planning further exploration and in parallel identifying opportunities for achieving near-term production.

The JS Group of Claims

The M5 gold prospect lies within the JS Group in altered siliceous host rock, exposed beneath Tertiary volcaniclastics for 1km.  Gold, Arsenic and Antimony were all anomalous in samples taken along a north-easterly crest of the central ridge at M5 and the coincidence of anomalous pathfinder geochemistry and altered sediments strongly suggests the presence of sediment hosted disseminated gold mineralisation.  The Group conducted a geological mapping and sampling exercise in 2019 to follow up the anomalous results from an earlier campaign.

The M4 Copper-Gold project also lies within the JS Group. The M4 copper target was identified through geophysical surveys, soil sampling and mapping of mineralised structures on surface. Great Western believes that the breccia vein intercepted in hole M4_05, along with other veins mapped at surface, could be offshoot structures in the roof of a buried sulphide orebody. In December 2018 the Group submitted a drill permit application to follow up on the exciting discovery in hole M4_05. The application was approved in 2019 and remains current.

The EM Group of Claims

The M8 copper prospect lies within the EM Group which contains the historic Eastside Mine where high grade copper-oxide ore was mined from shallow underground workings during the First World War.  Conoco investigated Eastside as a copper porphyry prospect in the early 1970's, identifying mineralisation consisting of substantial copper and molybdenum values.

In 2019 Great Western undertook an in-depth geological mapping exercise over the EM Group in conjunction with a broad soil sampling campaign covering the entire exposure of altered basement sediments. Anomalous copper and zinc values were identified, validating Conoco's reported results, along with an apparent zonation of metal enrichment which points to a buried source in the north-east quadrant of the claim group.

The Tun Group of Claims

The M6 gold-silver prospect lies within the TUN Group. The M6 prospect is a parallel system of multiple, oxide and sulphide, gold-silver veins and veinlet stockworks.  Supergene, high-grade ores have been mined in the past at M6 and the potential remains for deposits of shallow, oxidised stockworks in the immediate vicinity of the historic workings.

In 2019 Great Western carried out a detailed mapping and sampling programme at the TUN Group, identifying multiple quartz veins and encountering further previously unreported historic workings along a 2km strike corridor.

 

Summary of 2019 Work Programme

·         Portfolio of claims reorganised by acquiring new claims with precious metals potential and relinquishing old claims   with no remaining potential

· Geological mapping at the Silver Moon and Silver Bell gold and silver prospects

· Soil sampling programme at Mineral Jackpot group of claims, including Silver Bell and Silver Moon

· Two drill locations permitted for M2

· Soil and rock sampling at RH Group

· M4 drill permit sought and approved

· Geological mapping undertaken and concluded over the Eastside Mine area

Forward to 2020

2020 is scheduled to be a busy and exciting year for Great Western, although the impact of Covid-19 is likely to cause delays, given the overriding need to safeguard the Company's employees and contractors and to comply fully with all government directives. Numerous precious metal targets have been identified from the 2019 field campaigns where trenching and drilling activities will commence on the most tantalising of these targets as soon as applications for surface disturbance works have been approved, always subject to the situation with the virus.  Historic spoil heap will be leached offsite for early recovery of precious metals and to verify prospectivity. At the other prospects, further rock and soil sampling will be undertaken to identify future targets with a view to accelerating their exploitation.

 

Consolidated Income Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2019

							Notes		2019		2018
Continuing operations									€		€
Administrative expenses									(816,990)		(995,260)
Finance income							4		1,195		2,486
Loss for the year before tax							5		(815,795)		(992,774)
Income tax expense							7		-		-
Loss for the financial year									(815,795)		(992,774)
Loss attributable to:
Equity holders of the Company									(815,795)		(992,774)
Loss per share from continuing operations
Basic and diluted loss per share (cent)							8		(0.001)		(0.002)

 

Consolidated Statement of Other Comprehensive Income

For the year ended 31 December 2019

							Notes		2019		2018
									€		€
Loss for the financial year									(815,795)		(992,774)
Other comprehensive income
Items that are or may be reclassified to profit or loss:
Currency translation differences									87,052		140,736
									87,052		140,736
Total comprehensive expense for the financial year
attributable to equity holders of the Company									(728,743)		(852,038)

 

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

For the year ended 31 December 2019

							Notes		2019		2018
Assets									€		€
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment							10		76,556		82,192
Intangible assets							11		6,106,347		5,805,973
Total non-current assets									6,182,903		5,888,165
Current assets
Trade and other receivables							12		94,943		123,174
Cash and cash equivalents							13		306,675		884,452
Total current assets									401,618		1,007,626
Total assets									6,584,521		6,895,791
Equity
Capital and reserves
Share capital							15		112,205		67,767
Share premium							15		9,687,151		9,491,437
Share based payment reserve							16		435,962		279,739
Foreign currency translation reserve									533,903		446,851
Retained earnings									(4,535,134)		(3,707,653)
Attributable to owners of the Company									6,234,087		6,578,141
Total equity									6,234,087		6,578,141
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables							14		350,434		317,650
Total current liabilities									350,434		317,650
Total liabilities									350,434		317,650
Total equity and liabilities									6,584,521		6,895,791

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2019

						Share capital		Share premium		Share option reserve		Share warrant reserve		Foreign currency translation reserve		Retained earnings		Total
						€		€		€		€		€		€		€
Balance at 1 January 2018						2,681,023		8,328,238		77,805		140,395		306,115		(5,342,764)		6,190,812
Comprehensive income for the year
Loss for the year						-		-		-		-		-		(992,774)		(992,774)
Currency translation differences						-		-		-		-		140,736		-		140,736
Total comprehensive income for the year						-		-		-		-		140,736		(992,774)		(852,038)
Transactions with owners, recorded
directly in equity
Shares issued						8,500		1,163,199		-		-		-		(78,859)		1,092,840
Share warrants charge						-		-		-		23,554		-		(23,554)		-
Share warrants exercised						-		-		-		(108,542)		-		108,542		-
Share options charge						-		-		152,421		-		-		-		152,421
Share options cancelled						-		-		(5,894)		-		-		-		(5,894)
Cancellation of deferred share capital						(2,621,756)		-		-		-		-		2,621,756		-
Total transactions with owners,
recorded directly in equity						(2,613,256)		1,163,199		146,527		(84,988)		-		2,627,885		1,239,367
Balance at 31 December 2018						67,767		9,491,437		224,332		55,407		446,851		(3,707,653)		6,578,141

 

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (continued)

For the year ended 31 December 2019

						Share capital		Share premium		Share option reserve		Share warrant reserve		Foreign currency translation reserve		Retained earnings		Total
						€		€		€		€		€		€		€
Balance at 1 January 2019						67,767		9,491,437		224,332		55,407		446,851		(3,707,653)		6,578,141
Comprehensive income for the year
Loss for the year						-		-		-		-		-		(815,795)		(815,795)
Currency translation differences						-		-		-		-		87,052		-		87,052
Total comprehensive income for the year						-		-		-		-		87,052		(815,795)		(728,743)
Transactions with owners, recorded
directly in equity
Shares issued						44,438		371,003		-		-		-		(11,686)		403,755
Share warrants granted						-		(175,289)		-		-		-		-		(175,289)
Share options charge						-		-		156,223		-		-		-		156,223
Total transactions with owners,
recorded directly in equity						44,438		195,714		156,223		-		-		(11,686)		384,689
Balance at 31 December 2019						112,205		9,687,151		380,555		55,407		533,903		(4,535,134)		6,234,087

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

For the year ended 31 December 2019

							Notes		2019		2018
									€		€
Cash flows from operating activities
Loss for the year									(815,795)		(992,774)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation							10		7,216		7,080
Interest receivable and similar income							4		(1,195)		(2,486)
Decrease in trade and other receivables									28,231		31,728
Increase in trade and other payables									32,784		250,780
Equity settled share-based payment							16		156,223		152,421
Share options cancelled							16		-		(5,894)
Net cash flows from operating activities									(592,536)		(559,145)
Cash flow from investing activities
Acquisition of property, plant and equipment							10		-		(62,654)
Expenditure on intangible assets							11		(206,736)		(2,266,542)
Interest received							4		1,195		2,486
Net cash from investing activities									(205,541)		(2,326,710)
Cash flow from financing activities
Proceeds from the issue of new shares							15		415,441		1,126,555
Share warrants granted							15		(175,289)		-
Proceeds from the exercise of share options							15		-		45,144
Commission paid from the issue of new shares							15		(11,686)		(78,859)
Net cash from financing activities									228,466		1,092,840
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents									(569,611)		(1,793,015)
Exchange rate adjustment on cash and cash equivalents									(8,166)		(809)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year							13		884,452		2,678,276
Cash and cash equivalents at end of the year							13		306,675		884,452

Notes to the Financial Statements PDF link:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/1277J_1-2020-4-7.pdf

 

END

 

 

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