VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA -- (Marketwired) -- 04/02/13 -- Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. (the "Company") (TSX: SBB) reported today the financial results for the year ended December 31, 2012.
2012 was a year of continued growth and change for Sabina. Highlights of the year include:
-- The Company had cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of
$116.4 million at December 31, 2012.
-- During 2012, the Company completed 68,861 meters of drilling at Back
River focused on infill, geotechnical and extension drilling at the
Llama, Umwelt, Goose and George deposits in support of the planned Back
River Pre-Feasibility Study ("PFS"). Exploration highlights included
success in all areas; improvements in and near proposed pits, extensions
of existing deposits, success in conversion of resources from inferred
to indicated and new discoveries. All deposits have since been
remodelled from first principles and along with the drilling from 2012,
have resulted in an increased resource calculation with better grade and
confidence (announced in early 2013).
-- On May 29th the Company announced the results of the Preliminary
Economic Assessment ("PEA") on the Back River Project which contemplated
a project with average annual production of 300,000 ounces of gold over
a 12.3 year mine life; total LOM capital of $838 million and total LOM
cash costs of $542/oz including royalties.
-- In June 2012, the Company filed a preliminary project description
("PPD") for the Back River Project with the Nunavut Impact Review Board
("NIRB"). This filing triggered the environmental assessment process and
associated permitting activities. In December 2012, the Company received
a response from the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern
Development indicating that the project would be subject to a Part 5
screening process as NIRB had recommended and the Company had expected.
-- On June 26, 2012, the Company completed a bought-deal financing. The
offering was comprised of 11,896,750 flow-through common shares at $2.90
per share for total gross proceeds of approximately $34.5 million.
Additionally, the Company completed a non-brokered equity placement on
the same terms as the brokered placement for additional gross proceeds
of approximately $0.6 million. The total gross proceeds of $35.1 million
must be used to incur Canadian exploration expenditures as defined by
the Income Tax Act (Canada) by December 31, 2013.
-- In August, the Company initiated a PFS on the Back River Project. The
Company engaged Tetra Tech WEI Inc., as the lead consultant, responsible
for overall delivery of the PFS, process and infrastructure design,
operating and capital expenditures and economic modelling, AMC
Consultants Ltd., responsible for geology and mining, Knight Piesold
Consultants Ltd., responsible for tailings design, geotechnical, and
hydrogeology and Rescan, responsible for hydrology and baseline
environmental. The PFS is scheduled for completion in Q3, 2013.
"Last year, we executed one of the largest exploration programs for the Company with impressive results," said Rob Pease, President & CEO, "This year, we are continuing to aggressively push Back River forward to the next stage of development. Currently, eight drills are running at our Goose and George projects with engineering and environmental baseline work for the FS and ongoing PFS work underway" he said "We look forward to providing further details about Xstrata's progress on Hackett River and anticipate the beginning of Back River drill results in the near future."
Technical Report Filed
Subsequent to the end of the year, on February 15, 2013, the Company announced an updated resource estimate for Back River. The new mineral resource is comprised of measured and indicated resources of 24.2 million tonnes grading 6.0 g/t for 4.7 million ounces of gold, and inferred resources of 7.7 million tonnes grading 7.8 g/t for 1.9 million ounces of gold. Remodelling from first principles was conducted on all deposits and in combination with 2012 drilling, resulted in increasing overall confidence and grade, and added approximately 740,000 ounces (or 13%) of gold in all categories.
The report, entitled, Back River Gold Property, Nunavut Territory Canada, has now been filed on and can be found at www.sedar.com or on the Company's website at www.sabinagoldsilver.com.
Financial Results
For the year ended December 31, 2012, the Company reported a net loss of $14.1 million compared to a loss of $12.7 million in 2011. The increase of $1.4 million was the net result of a write-off of the Cook Lake mineral property and lower net finance income, offset by decreased share-based payments costs and lower deferred income tax expense.
Operating expenses in 2012 were $11.9 million compared to $10.0 million for the same period 2011. In Q4, 2012, the Company wrote-off the carrying value of its Cook Lake property of $3.8 million. Following a review of exploration results at Cook Lake, the Company determined that it would not continue with its option on the property and, consequently, all deferred exploration costs were written-off. Share based compensation payments decreased in 2012 by $2.0 million due to primarily to a decrease in the option value. Approximately 10% more share purchase options were granted and vested in 2012 compared to the same period in 2011.
Interest income in 2012 was $2.4 million compared to $2.1 million in 2011, higher by 15% due to higher average cash balances ($138.2 million in 2012 versus $131.0 million in 2011) and a higher realized interest rate which increased to 1.71% from 1.54%.
The total flow-through premium income recognized in 2012 was $4.1 million compared to $8.1 million in 2011. In addition to timing differences related to renunciation of eligible expenditures, the Company had a larger flow-through premium in 2011, both in terms of gross premium amount and percentage of share price.
Deferred income tax expense was $8.7 million in 2012 compared to $12.8 million in 2011; the difference was the result of less flow-through financing completed in the period and timing of renunciation of flow-through eligible expenditures.
For the full December 31, 2012 financial statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis, please see the Company website at www.sabinagoldsilver.com.
SABINA GOLD & SILVER CORP
Sabina Gold & Silver Corp. is an emerging gold developer with district scale, world class assets in one of the world's newest, most politically stable mining jurisdictions: Nunavut, Canada.
Sabina's primary assets, all located in Nunavut, consist of: the Back River Gold Project, currently in the pre-feasibility and permitting phase; the Wishbone Claims, a vastly prospective grass roots project; and the Hackett River Silver Royalty, a silver production royalty on Xstrata Zinc's Hackett River project comprising 22.5% of the first 190 million ounces produced and 12.5% of all the silver produced thereafter. The company ended December 31, 2012 with approximately $116 million in cash.
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