Final Results

RNS Number : 7888W

Great Western Mining Corp. plc

28 April 2021

 

GREAT WESTERN MINING CORPORATION PLC

("Great Western" or the "Company")

FINAL RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2020

Great Western Mining Corporation PLC (AIM - GWMO, Euronext Growth - 8GW), which is exploring and developing multiple early-stage gold, silver and copper targets in Nevada, USA,  announces its results for the year ended 31 December 2020.  The Company is in the exploration, appraisal and development phase and currently has no revenues.

Financial Highlights:

· Loss for year €852,042 (2019: loss of €815,795)

· Basic and diluted loss per share 0.001 (cent): (2019: 0.001)

· Net assets at year-end: €7.9 million (2019: €6.2 million)

· Cash at 31 December 2020: €2.2 million (2019: €0.3 million)

Operational Highlights

· Precious metal poured at the year end proved the concept of secondary recovery from multiple spoil heaps at Mineral Jackpot

· 4-year option to acquire the Olympic Gold Project signed and two geophysical surveys conducted to define drill locations for 2021

· Soil sampling, rock sampling, trenching and geophysical survey used to define drill locations at the previously unexploited Rock House Group

· Magnetometer survey over the Mineral Jackpot Group

· Strengthened the Board with the addition of two experienced non-executive directors

Post Period End

· Drilling programme on Olympic Gold Project commenced April 2021

·         Placing of new shares raised £1 million (€1.15 million) - proceeds will be used to accelerate exploitation of gold  prospects and expand the Company's work programme for the current year

· Independent test results indicated gravity separation as viable production method for processing material from Mineral Jackpot spoil heaps

· Independent metallurgical consultant engaged to prepare specifications and detailed costing for proposed processing operations

· Migration of share settlement system from CREST to Euroclear Bank successfully completed

Brian Hall, Executive Chairman, commented: "During a difficult year for everybody, we made strong progress on our projects and successfully secured funds for our operations.  The results of our work in 2020 have enabled us to initiate a major drilling programme across our three prime areas of interest, now under way, while laboratory testing has shown the way forward for secondary recovery of precious metals from numerous spoil heaps at the historic gold and silver workings on our extensive inventory of claims, which we are progressing with vigour.

"Importantly, we are well funded for the current year and are at an inflexion point for the Company, with a growing portfolio, from which we have already poured our first gold, and a clear line of sight to long-term processing as well as the added value of our copper assets. We have a busy year ahead, with our ongoing drilling programme and we are extremely excited by our prospects." 

For further information:

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

Executive Chairman's Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2020

Dear Shareholder,

Herewith your Company's Annual Report and audited Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2020.  Great Western is an exploration and development company which does not yet generate commercial revenues and is reporting a loss for the year of €852,042 (2019: €815,795), net assets of €7,919,625 (2019: €6,234,087) and net cash of €2,287,172 (2019: €306,675).  The Company has no debt apart from current creditors arising in the normal course of business and is not a party to any disputes.

Great Western explores for and exploits precious and base metals in Mineral County, Nevada, USA where it operates multiple 100% owned claims and has over 17,000 acres under licence.

During the reporting year we strengthened our cash position through four placings of new shares; acquired an option to purchase the Olympic Gold Project in Nevada where we have since carried out two separate geophysical surveys; evaluated spoil heaps at the Mineral Jackpot property and, at the very end of the year, poured a trial quantity of gold and silver as a pilot scheme for processing operations; doubled the mineralisation footprint at Mineral Jackpot; and established the potential for gold and silver at the Rock House ('RH') group of claims which have never before been explored or exploited.

At the Annual General Meeting in 2020 we were pleased to welcome two experienced Non-Executive Directors to the Board who have now been elected by shareholders.  Andrew Hay has spent a long career in banking and finance and is former head of corporate finance at the Edmond de Rothschild in London. He is now a Senior Adviser at Smith Square Partners, a leading UK corporate finance advisory firm.  Alastair Ford has spent his entire career in or associated with the mining industry, at different times as an analyst, journalist and asset manager.  These two appointees have both previously been directors of listed companies and are making a strong contribution. 

During 2020 our focus was almost entirely on gold and silver.  Our target for gold is a resource of 1.5 million ounces but this is of course subject to the success of our ongoing exploration efforts.  We have already established an inferred and indicated copper resource of 4.28 million tonnes of 0.45% copper for 19,000 tonnes of contained copper metal at a 0.2% cut-off grade, which represents considerable progress but still falls far short of an economic resource and requires further capital expenditure.  The Company's current policy is to accelerate its numerous and more accessible gold and silver prospects, while seeking a strong joint venture partner for development of the copper potential. We have had two separate approaches from third parties but neither has met our criteria and we actively continue to seek an appropriate partner.  In the meantime, there are no outstanding work commitments beyond manageable annual lease rentals.

Our three primary gold and silver prospects are (1) the Mineral Jackpot claims on the Black Mountain group, consisting of five historic mines, which we have managed to link together through mapping and thereby double the area of potential mineralisation; (2) the RH (Rock House) Group which has never previously been explored but where we have identified strong indications of gold and silver, carried out trenching, a geophysical survey  and processed small quantities of gold and silver from float material; and (3) the Olympic Gold Project where we acquired a 4 year purchase option in May 2020 and have since carried out two geophysical surveys which have allowed us to plan a drilling programme for 2021. More detailed information on all these prospects is to be found in the operations section of the Annual Report.

New gold mines are not developed overnight and, as an interim measure, we are assessing how to exploit the numerous spoil heaps from past mine workings at Mineral Jackpot and elsewhere for secondary recovery of precious metals.  At Mineral Jackpot alone there are approximately 38 spoil heaps, estimated to aggregate up to 12,000 tonnes of material.  We set ourselves a challenging target of pouring first precious metal from a pilot scheme by the end of 2020.  This was a difficult exercise, not helped by the pandemic-related trans-Atlantic travel ban, but at the very end of the year we achieved this objective with only a day or two to spare.  We therefore proved the concept by producing a single small doré bar comprising a mix of gold, silver and some other minerals and we still have a lot of material left to be processed, as our small team on site is currently multi-  tasking over all our projects and our team members in the UK and Ireland continue to face travel restrictions at the time of writing.  A balancing act and careful planning is constantly needed to prioritise the tasks in hand among only a very few people and to make sure we keep our projects moving ahead.  Processing the remaining material together with additional material from our trenching exercise at RH is work-in-progress.

During the first quarter of 2021 a metallurgical laboratory in the UK carried out a full analysis of a sample load of spoil heap material from Mineral Jackpot, with an initial calculated grade of 1.26 g/t gold and 434 g/t silver, and the results of this were announced at the beginning of April.  This analysis concluded that gravity separation of the material will be a viable production method and that a much more complex and expensive cyanide leaching project, requiring a high level of environmental approvals, would not significantly increase recovery of precious metals.  Under test conditions at the laboratory, material ground to a diameter of 0.35mm liberated 50% of available gold and 40% of available silver.  This was further improved when the material was ground to 0.25mm diameter, yielding an enriched concentrate that assayed up to 140 grams gold and 20,000 grams silver per tonne processed.  It is important to stress that while these results are extremely encouraging, they cannot be directly extrapolated over 38 widely dispersed spoil heaps which may have varying characteristics. However, we now have sufficient data from which to evaluate a potential production project and have contracted an independent metallurgical consultant who is preparing specifications and detailed costings. 

Looking ahead, with regulatory approvals now in place, we have this month commenced a 10,000-foot drilling programme with a Reverse Circulation rig which we have under contract.  In addition, we have contracted a much smaller and more easily transportable coring rig for accessing difficult mountainous areas and with these two units we shall be drilling at all three of our primary gold and silver target areas.  Although our main objective is precious metals, we also aim to drill at least one hole on the M4 prospect with the aim of defining a copper lead. 

Away from field operations, we expect to formulate a workable plan for exploitation of the spoil heaps in the near future.  Our basic 2021 programme was already funded but In March we undertook a placing of new shares for cash and raised £1 million before transaction expenses which will enable us to expand our programme if our drilling yields promising results.  In addition to our existing assets and the recently acquired Olympic Gold Project option, we are actively seeking further precious metals opportunities for exploration, to spread our risk and maximise the opportunity for a company-maker discovery.

Since the year end, we have successfully migrated our share settlement operations from CREST in London to the Euroclear Bank in Belgium, being a post-Brexit requirement for Irish public companies.  This was a complicated and lengthy exercise which we have managed to achieve at minimum cost and which also required the active voting participation of shareholders in order to succeed, for whose support we are very grateful.

Details of the Annual General Meeting will be advised to shareholders in the near future.

We have a very active ongoing programme and a number of excellent prospects to work on.  We cannot assure success on all of them but believe we have a wide enough spread of really interesting opportunities to be able to create real value for Great Western's shareholders.  On behalf of our small, dedicated team, I would like to thank our wide base of nearly 4,000 underlying shareholders for their continuing support.  We will publish operational updates whenever appropriate throughout the year.

Yours sincerely,

Brian Hall

Executive Chairman

Operations Report

For the year ended 31 December 2020

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 2020, Great Western carried out exploration across its portfolio of six 100% owned claims groups in Nevada and in May 2020 entered an option agreement over the Olympic Gold group of claims, increasing the Group's claim position by 48 claims.

In September 2020 as part of the annual claim renewal procedure, the Group reduced its land position through the relinquishment of 119 claims in the JS, EM and BM Groups which were considered no longer to have strategic value to the Group. Following renewal, the land position held by Great Western in Mineral County consists of 728 full and fractional unpatented claims, covering a total land area of approximately 58.9 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 249 full and fractional claims covering approximately 20.7 km².

During 2020, the Company conducted a magnetometer survey over the northern apart of the prospect, around the former workings of the Mineral Jackpot mine. Results were very encouraging - appearing to show a strong correlation between magnetic signatures and known vein structures. This should allow for expansion of the survey into prospective areas where there are currently no known veins in the search for new structures.

During the autumn, a team was organised to collect prospective vein material from numerous spoil heaps that are scattered around the former workings at Mineral Jackpot.  Several tonnes of material were collected and bought down to a small purpose-built gravity pilot plant erected nearby.  130 kg of this material was split off and shipped to a professional testing facility in the U.K., to process in conjunction with the bulk of the material. The U.K. testing facility was engaged to run leaching amenability tests, as well as gravity amenability tests, with work ongoing at the year end. Of the remaining material, the majority was successfully run through the pilot gravity circuit, and a small doré bar of precious metal produced with further processing planned for the current year.

As well as precious metals, 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.  In 2019 two drill locations were permitted with the BLM in order to drill test the target and they remain current and valid.

The Olympic Gold Group of Claims

In May, the Company acquired an option to purchase the Olympic Gold Project, a group of 48 claims, located approximately 50 miles from Great Western's original concessions but still within Mineral County.  The purchase consideration of $150,000 is spread over four years during which time Great Western has full rights to all data and to conduct exploration and appraisal work.  Great Western may elect to bring forward the closing of the purchase by early-paying the schedule in full or it may exit the project at any time without penalty and without completing the payment schedule.  Work is in progress on several potential prospects over this 800 acre site.

The Olympic Gold Group of Claims (continued)

The Olympic Gold Project lies on the northern flanks of the Cedar Mountain Range, on the eastern edge of Mineral County. It lies within the Walker Lane Fault Belt, at the intersection of two major mineral trends - the Rawhide-Paradise Peak trend, and the Aurora-Round Mountain Trend. The mineral deposit type at Olympic is of low sulphidation epithermal banded quartz-gold vein style. Historic production from the former Olympic Gold Mine totalled approximately 35,000 tonnes, at a grade of 25 g/t gold and 30 g/t silver, in the interwar period of 1918 to 1939. Great Western believes that faulted offsets of the high-grade Olympic Vein still remain to be discovered in the area and this forms one of the numerous target zones on the prospect.

During 2020 a rock sampling programme verified the historical results provided as part of the option agreement package, indicating mineralisation to be present across the claim block. A magnetometer survey covering the sites of the mineralisation was undertaken, leading to the discovery of a further buried target to the east of the Trafalgar Hill prospect. The magnetics survey also defined an anomaly to the east of the OMCO fault, the target area containing a projected faulted slice of the Olympic vein.

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 2020 a trenching programme was enacted over the Eastern Shear Zone ("ESZ") and the Southern Alteration Zone ("SAZ"), designed to target the anomalies detected in the earlier soil programme. The trenches were designed to cross-cut the major northwest to southeast structure mapped at the ESZ, and to better expose the alteration assemblage at the SAZ. Best assays of 1.5m @ 0.23 g/t Au and 1.5m @ 0.1 g/t Au from trench 5 in the SAZ, within a sheared and altered carbonate unit, intruded by a felsic intrusive, point to the promise of the area. Although no reportable intercepts were encountered in the trenches excavated in the ESZ, a 10kg float sample was recovered from near the area of trench 2 and assayed, producing a small prill of gold and silver.  A magnetometer survey was conducted over both the ESZ and the SAZ. Although the survey did not pick up the main structure at the ESZ, a magnetic high under the alluvium to the east and south of the zone was defined, potentially indicating a buried intrusive body. The survey over the SAZ showed a broad magnetic low to the east of the SAZ, running north east to south west, which is likely related to a buried fault structure underneath the alluvium. This fault may be a range front fault, of which similar structures throughout Nevada are known to host important gold deposits, or it may be related to the Golconda fault system, an earlier thrust fault system that hosts the prolific Candelaria silver deposit to the east. 

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 northwest 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 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 2019 the Group received a drill permit application to follow up on the exciting discovery in hole M4_05 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, within a north east trending graben structure. Drilling by Conoco at the southern end of this structure identified thick successions of alteration, and copper enrichment.  They did no further work to follow up on these results. The Company regards the northerly continuation of this structure to be a strong target for buried copper mineralisation, which remains untested.

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.

Summary of 2020 Work Programme

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

· Collection of spoil heap material from the Mineral Jackpot area, and production of a gold and silver bar.

· Magnetometer survey over the Mineral Jackpot prospect.

· Rock sampling over the Olympic Gold Project.

· Magnetometer survey over the Olympic Gold Project.

· Trenching and sampling at RH Group.

· Magnetometer survey at RH Group.

Forward to 2021

2021 is scheduled to be a busy and exciting year for Great Western, although the ongoing impact of Covid-19 may cause continued challenges, 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 2020 field campaigns where drilling activities will commence on the most promising of these as soon as applications for surface disturbance works have been approved.  Approval for drilling at the Olympic project was granted in April 2021, with a drill rig mobilising shortly after. Drilling is also taking place at the M4 copper project, with a light drill rig currently set up on one of the eastern drill pads. At the other prospects, rock and soil sampling will be continued to identify future targets with a view to accelerating their exploitation.  A contract for a Reverse Circulation rig has been signed and a 10,000 feet (3,000 metre) programme is due to commence at the beginning of the second quarter, starting at the Olympic property.  A lighter, easily deployable rig has also been identified and signed up with a capability of drilling up to 90 feet and the Company is upgrading this to increase its capability to 200 feet.  On the processing side, the Company will process more material through gravity separation and work on developing a longer-term processing facility, the specifications of which will be designed with the help of specialist consultants once the laboratory analysis has been definitively completed.

 

Consolidated Income Statement

For the year ended 31 December 2020

							Notes		2020		2019
Continuing operations									€		€
Administrative expenses									(852,270)		(816,990)
Finance income							4		228		1,195
Loss for the year before tax							5		(852,042)		(815,795)
Income tax expense							7		-		-
Loss for the financial year									(852,042)		(815,795)
Loss attributable to:
Equity holders of the Company									(852,042)		(815,795)
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 2020

							Notes		2020		2019
									€		€
Loss for the financial year									(852,042)		(815,795)
Other comprehensive income
Items that are or may be reclassified to profit or loss:
Currency translation differences									(512,730)		87,052
									(512,730)		87,052
Total comprehensive expense for the financial year
attributable to equity holders of the Company									(1,364,772)		(728,743)

 

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

For the year ended 31 December 2020

							Notes		2020		2019
Assets									€		€
Non-current assets
Property, plant and equipment							10		66,612		76,556
Intangible assets							11		5,898,940		6,106,347
Total non-current assets									5,965,552		6,182,903
Current assets
Trade and other receivables							12		99,904		94,943
Cash and cash equivalents							13		2,287,172		306,675
Total current assets									2,387,076		401,618
Total assets									8,352,628		6,584,521
Equity
Capital and reserves
Share capital							15		307,071		112,205
Share premium							15		12,543,606		9,687,151
Share based payment reserve							16		559,420		435,962
Foreign currency translation reserve									21,173		533,903
Retained earnings									(5,511,645)		(4,535,134)
Attributable to owners of the Company									7,919,625		6,234,087
Total equity									7,919,625		6,234,087
Liabilities
Current liabilities
Trade and other payables							14		433,003		350,434
Total current liabilities									433,003		350,434
Total liabilities									433,003		350,434
Total equity and liabilities									8,352,628		6,584,521

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

For the year ended 31 December 2020

						Share capital		Share premium		Share based payment reserve			Foreign currency translation reserve		Retained earnings		Total
						€		€		€			€		€		€
Balance at 1 January 2019						67,767		9,491,437		279,739			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		435,962			533,903		(4,535,134)		6,234,087

 

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (continued)

For the year ended 31 December 2020

						Share capital		Share premium		Share based payment reserve			Foreign currency translation reserve		Retained earnings		Total
						€		€		€			€		€		€
Balance at 1 January 2020						112,205		9,687,151		435,962			533,903		(4,535,134)		6,234,087
Comprehensive income for the year
Loss for the year						-		-		-			-		(852,042)		(852,042)
Currency translation differences						-		-		-			(512,730)		-		(512,730)
Total comprehensive income for the year						-		-		-			(512,730)		(852,042)		(1,364,772)
Transactions with owners, recorded
directly in equity
Shares issued						194,866		2,680,921		-			-		(140,490)		2,735,297
Share warrants granted						-		-		25,521			-		(25,521)		-
Share warrants exercised						-		175,534		(11,815)			-		-		163,719
Share warrants terminated						-		-		(41,542)			-		41,542		-
Share options charge						-		-		151,294			-		-		151,294
Total transactions with owners,
recorded directly in equity						194,866		2,865,455		123,458			-		(124,469)		3,050,310
Balance at 31 December 2020						307,071		12,543,606		559,420			21,173		(5,511,645)		7,919,625

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

For the year ended 31 December 2020

							Notes		2020		2019
									€		€
Cash flows from operating activities
Loss for the year									(852,042)		(815,795)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation							10		3,733		7,216
Interest receivable and similar income							4		(228)		(1,195)
(Increase)/Decrease in trade and other receivables									(4,961)		28,231
(Decrease)/Increase in trade and other payables									(72,067)		32,784
Equity settled share-based payment							16		151,294		156,223
Net cash flows from operating activities									(774,271)		(592,536)
Cash flow from investing activities
Expenditure on intangible assets							11		(196,982)		(206,736)
Interest received							4		228		1,195
Net cash from investing activities									(196,754)		(205,541)
Cash flow from financing activities
Proceeds from the issue of new shares							15		3,130,705		415,441
Share warrants granted							15		-		(175,289)
Commission paid from the issue of new shares							15		(140,490)		(11,686)
Net cash from financing activities									2,990,215		228,466
Decrease in cash and cash equivalents									2,019,190		(569,611)
Exchange rate adjustment on cash and cash equivalents									(38,693)		(8,166)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year							13		306,675		884,452
Cash and cash equivalents at end of the year							13		2,287,172		306,675

Notes to the Financial Statements PDF link:

http://www.rns-pdf.londonstockexchange.com/rns/7888W_1-2021-4-27.pdf

 

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