VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – SEPTEMBER 19, 2011: New Pacific Metals Corp. (the “Company”) announces its audited consolidated financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended June 30, 2011. All figures are expressed in Canadian Dollars (CAD$) unless otherwise stated.
FISCAL 2011 FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For the year ended June 30, 2011 (“F2011”), the Company recorded net income of $13,259,838 or $0.25 per share compared to loss of $1,751,435, or $0.06 per share for the year ended June 30, 2010 (“F2010”). Significant highlights are as follows:
Income from discontinued operations of $16,253,918 as a result of gains recognized on disposition of subsidiaries during the year, compared to losses from discontinued operations of $267,420 in F2010.
Loss from continuing operations of $2,994,080 as a result of increased operations, compared to $1,484,015 in F2010.
Incurred total expenses of $3,253,255 as a result of increased stock-based compensation, foreign exchange loss, and general expenses due to increased operations, compared to $1,544,719 in F2010.
Completed the acquisition of the Tagish Lake Gold Property by acquiring Tagish Lake Gold Corp. and its subsidiaries for total purchase consideration of $20,392,409, comprising of shares, options and cash. The Tagish Lake Gold Property consists of 982 mineral claims covering approximately 178 square kilometres in the Yukon, Canada.
Successfully raised gross proceeds of $24.3 million through a private placement.
Incurred exploration and development expenditures of $2,621,888 at the Tagish Lake Gold Property. Assay results from such exploration are pending.
As of June 30, 2011, the Company has a working capital position of $37,232,868 (June 30, 2010 – $8,964,681). Cash and cash equivalents amounted to $20,625,672 (June 30, 2010 – $6,333,154). With a strong working capital, the Company is well positioned financially to continue development of the Tagish Lake Gold Property.
FOURTH QUARTER FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS
For the quarter ended June 30, 2011, the Company incurred a loss of $212,698 or $0.003 per share (quarter ended June 30, 2010 – $462,731 or $0.015 per share). During this quarter, the Company recorded total expenses of $835,296, an increase of $389,526 compared to $445,770 in the same period last year. Greater expenses were mainly due to increased stock-based compensation, foreign exchange loss, and general expenses due to enhanced exploration operations. During the quarter, the Company recognized a gain of $596,063 from disposition of a subsidiary; no such gain was recorded in the same period last year.
Fiscal 2012 year OUTLOOK and Exploration Program Budget
The Company’s focus is development of the Tagish Lake Gold Property, a property which consists of 178 square kilometres of mineral claims in the Yukon Territory, having three known deposits; Goddell Gold, Skukum Creek Gold-Silver, and Mt. Skukum Gold Projects.
For the 2012 fiscal year, 24,000 metres of surface drilling and 36,000 metres of underground drilling (60,000 metres in total) are planned with total estimated expenditures of $16.5 million. Fiscal 2012 planned exploration activities and expenditures are broken down as follows:
Permitting ($0.85 million) – The Company has initiated an Environmental Assessment Study for the Tagish Lake Gold Property, which is required to apply for the Quartz Mining License. The Company will continue to carry out the feasibility study, using an in-house technical team combined with external consulting firms.
Surface Infrastructure ($0.68 million) – including expansion of the camp from 25 to 50 persons by refurbishing an 11,000 square feet camp facility already on site, refurbishing a 6,000 square feet geological office and core logging facility, and repairing some access roads. Surface infrastructure has been completed as of this reporting date.
Equipment ($1.4 million) – This budget includes the purchase of generators, pumps, ventilation, electronic, communication, and camp office equipment.
Underground drilling at Goddell ($4.4 million)– about 23,000 metres of underground drilling was planned at Goddell. Underground drilling will focus on the area 1,000 metres long and 600 metres down- and up-dip of the PD Zone and Merge Zones, where previous drilling, such as drill hole 97-41, intercepted 64.69 metres grading 5.75 g/t Au (please refer to January 13, 2011 Press Release).
Skukum Creek underground drilling ($3.1 million) – Skukum Creek is located about six kilometres southwest from the Goddell Portal: 13,000 metres of underground drilling was planned to target depth extensions of four mineralized zones where historical drilling was limited to portions of the four mineralized zones, and only to about 300 metres from the surface. The underground drilling commenced in July 2011.
Surface drilling and geophysics ($4.6 million) – a total of 24,000 metres of surface drilling was planned and surface drilling commenced at Raca in June 2011 and at Goddell in early July.
At the Raca site, located along the structural extension of the Skukum Creek mineralization zones (Rainbow Zone) to the northeast, 5,500 metres of surface drilling is planned to test extension of known historical drilling and surface gold anomalies. Drill hole Raca 97-1, located about 500 metres northeast of the Rainbow zone of the Skukum Creek Project, intercepted 3.6 metres grading 2.66 g/t gold and 561 g/t silver. At surface, soil gold anomalies outlined before 1988 by a previous owner, (all associated with anomalous values of silver and base metals), extend over two kilometres along a northeast structure hosting rhyolite dykes, with peak values up to 1 ppm 1 (g/tonne) gold. Based on a 1986 geological report by West Mount Resources, several surface chip samples over >10 metres interval returned over 1 g/t gold and one composite chip sample returned 20 metres grading 4 g/t gold and 19.9g/t silver.
In addition, several other regional gold-silver targets have been planned for about 18,500 metres of surface drilling, including the Charleston gold-silver showing, and a copper-molybdenum anomaly at the Porter alteration structure zone.
The Company has expanded its land holding by staking the area surrounding its existing land position. Concurrent with this surface drilling, the Company will conduct geophysical surveys: an airborne survey of 1,000 line kilometres in conjunction with a ground survey of 40 line kilometres.
General operations ($1.5 million) – These costs include camp operations, safety measures, and salaries and administration.
Alberta Siega, P.Eng, Vice President Mining for the Company is the qualified person for the technical disclosure in this press release.
The Company’s auditedConsolidated Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion and Analysis are available for review on our website at www.newpacificmetals.com and through SEDAR at www.sedar.com.
About New Pacific Metals Corp.
New Pacific Metals Corp. is a Canadian near-term gold and silver production mining company engaged in the exploration and development of gold poly-metallic properties in the Yukon, Canada. The Company’s current project is the Tagish Lake Gold Property in Yukon Territory. With experienced management and sufficient technical and financial resources, the Company is well positioned to build shareholder value through discovery, exploration and resource development.
For more information about New Pacific, visit New Pacific’s website at www.newpacificmetals.com or contract New Pacific Metals Corp., Maria Tang, CFO, Phone: (604) 669-9397, Fax: (604) 669-9387, or New Pacific Investor Relations at 604-633-1368 or send inquires to info@newpacificmetals.com Website: www.newpacificmetals.com
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