Vancouver, British Columbia (FSCwire) - FIORE GOLD LTD. (TSXV: F) (OTCQB: FIOGF) (“Fiore” or the “Company”) is pleased to announce that its unaudited financial statements and management’s discussion and analysis for the first quarter (“Q1”) ended December 31, 2017 have been filed with the securities regulatory authorities and are available at www.sedar.com and on the Company’s website at www.fioregold.com.

 

Q1 2018 Production and Financial Highlights

(all figures in U.S. dollars unless otherwise indicated)

 

The first quarter of the 2018 financial year saw a number of important milestones for Fiore Gold, including:

 

• The first full quarter of steady-state production at the Pan Mine in Nevada.

 

• Zero lost-time injuries for the quarter, and zero lost-time injuries since the mine was restarted in March 2017.

 

• Operating costs ($/ore ton) 6.2% below budget for the quarter.

 

• Successful construction of the Phase II heap leach pad at the Pan Mine, adding an additional 2.2 million square feet of leach pad space. Approximately $5.3 million of capital expenditures for the Phase II expansion was treated as sustaining capital costs for the quarter, resulting in significantly higher All-In Sustaining Costs (“AISC”) for the current period.

 

• Subsequent to the quarter end, Fiore commenced an exploration and development drilling program at the Pan Mine and began a series of tests to assess the potential for adding a crushing and agglomeration circuit to the mine.

 

• Financial highlights for the first quarter of FY2018 include:

 

￮ Revenues of $8.26 million from the sale of 6,467 gold ounces with a gross margin of $2.54 million or 31%.

 

￮ Inventory of 11,335 estimated recoverable ounces placed on the leach pad at Pan as of December 31, 2017.

 

￮ Working capital of $13.51 million as of December 31, 2017.

 

At our nearby Gold Rock project, the Final Environmental Impact Statement (“FEIS”) is with the Bureau of Land Management’s Washington D.C. office for final review and publication. The process to publish the FEIS is anticipated to be completed in the first quarter of calendar 2018, with the Record of Decision (“ROD”) to follow within 45 days of publication. We believe actions by the U.S. government to expedite this review process provides optimism that the process to issue the ROD will proceed in a timely manner.

 

Subsequent to the quarter end, two 10,000-ton test cells were placed under leach on the new Phase II leach pad to assess the relative gold recoveries of run-of-mine vs. crushed ore. The results of this testing are expected by the end of the second quarter, and will be used to evaluate whether to add a crushing and agglomeration circuit to the mine. Fiore also commenced an 11,500 ft exploration and development drilling program at Pan as part of a longer-term program aimed at expanding the resource and reserve base.

 

Tim Warman, Chief Executive Officer of Fiore, commented: “Having completed our first full quarter of steady state production, as well as a major capital investment in the Phase II leach pad, we’re now beginning to see the results of the remarkable turnaround of the Pan Mine. Fiore Gold purchased this asset for just $5 million in May of 2016 and immediately began rehabilitating the existing leach pad, delivering a new resource and reserve model, and applying a host of operational improvements that have resulted in the Pan Mine performing as expected and generating positive operating cash-flow. With the start-up year behind us, and the Company debt-free, management will be focused on executing our growth strategy through advancement of our Gold Rock project and strategic acquisitions of producing or near-production assets, as well as increasing gold production at Pan.”

 

First Quarter 2018 Results

 

Financial Position as of:	December 31, 2017		September 30, 2017
Select Items - On a Consolidated Basis	$000's		$000's
Cash	6,846		15,124
Inventories	8,724		5,849
Mineral Property, Plant and Equipment, net	27,086		21,841
Total Assets	49,285		46,866
Total Current Liabilities	4,417		(3,521)
Long-Term Liabilities	7,325		(9,259)
Working Capital Surplus	13,514		19,784

	Three Months Ending December 31,
Financial Results of Operations	2018		2017
Select Items - On a Consolidated Basis	$000's		$000's
Revenue	8,259		-
Gross Profit	2,535		-
Income / (Loss) from Operations	780		(1,433)
Unrealized Gain on Change in FV of Warrant Derivative	2,119		-
Net Income / (Loss)	2,792		(1,496)

 

FY2018 Guidance

 

Mining production is expected to range between 4.75 and 5.25 million tons of ore at a strip ratio of between 1.47 and 1.53. Gold production is anticipated to range from 35,000 to 40,000 ounces during fiscal year 2018 at an expected total cash cost of approximately $742 per gold ounce sold. Fiscal year 2018 guidance is summarized below.

 

		2018
		Guidance
Ore Tons Mined	('000)	4,750 - 5,250
Waste Tons Mined	('000)	7,250 - 7,750
Total Tons Mined	('000)	12,000 - 13,000
Gold Ounces Mined	(oz)	75,000 - 83,000
Ore Grade Mined	(oz/t)	0.014 - 0.017
Strip Ratio	Waste : Ore	1.47 - 1.53
Gold Ounces Produced	(oz)	35,000 - 40,000
Gold Ounces Sold	(oz)	35,000 - 40,000
Total Cash Costs per Ounce1	$/oz sold	742
Total Costs of Sales per Ounce1	$/oz sold	826
All-in Sustaining Costs1,2	$/oz sold	957
Mine Production Costs	$ millions	32.9
Royalties and Treatment/Refining Costs	$ millions	2.0
Inventory Movements	$ millions	(6.6)
Total Production Costs	$ millions	28.3
Capital Expenditures	$ millions	5.5

 

¹Total cash costs per ounce, costs of sales per ounce and all-in sustaining costs per ounce are non-IFRS financial measure that do not have a standard meaning under IFRS. Please refer to Non-IFRS Performance measures.

²All-in sustaining costs are presented as defined by the World Gold Council (“WGC”) less corporate general and administrative expenses.

 

Corporate Strategy

 

Our corporate strategy is to grow Fiore Gold into a 150,000 ounce per year gold producer. To achieve this, we intend to:

 

• increase gold production at the Pan Mine from a planned 35-40,000 ounces in fiscal 2018 to between 40-50,000 ounces per year by fiscal 2019;

 

• advance exploration and development of the nearby Gold Rock project, with a resource update planned for late 2018; and

 

• acquire additional production or near-production assets in Nevada and surrounding states.

 

Qualified Person

 

The scientific and technical information relating to Fiore Gold’s properties contained in this press release was approved by Kenneth A. Brunk (MMSA), Fiore Gold’s Technical Advisor and a "Qualified Person" under National Instrument 43-101.

 

On behalf of FIORE GOLD LTD.

"Tim Warman"

Chief Executive Officer

 

Contact Us:

info@fioregold.com

 

1 (416) 639-1426 Ext. 1

www.fioregold.com

 

Non-IFRS Financial Measures

 

The Company provides some non-IFRS measures as supplementary information that management believes may be useful to investors to explain the Company’s financial results. These measures are not defined under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation. The Company believes that these measures, together with measures determined in accordance with IFRS, provide investors with an improved ability to evaluate the underlying performance of the Company. The inclusion of these measures is meant to provide additional information and should not be used as a substitute for performance measures prepared in accordance with IFRS. These measures are not necessarily standard and therefore may not be comparable to other issuers.

 

We have adopted an “all-in sustaining costs” measure consistent with guidance issued by the WGC on June 27, 2013. We believe that the use of all-in sustaining costs is helpful to analysts, investors and other stakeholders in assessing our operating performance, our ability to generate free cash flow from current operations and our overall value. This measure is helpful to governments and local communities in understanding the economics of gold mining. The “all-in sustaining costs” measure is an extension of existing “cash cost” metrics and incorporate costs related to sustaining production. The WGC definition of all-in sustaining costs seeks to extend the definition of total cash costs by adding reclamation and remediation costs, exploration and study costs, capitalized stripping costs, corporate general and administrative costs and sustaining capital expenditures to represent the total costs of producing gold from current operations. All-in sustaining costs exclude income tax, interest costs, depreciation and other items needed to normalize earnings. Therefore, this measure is not indicative of our cash expenditures or overall profitability.

 

“Total cash cost per ounce sold” is a common financial performance measure in the gold mining industry but has no standard meaning under IFRS. The Company reports total cash costs on a sales basis. We believe that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, certain investors use this information to evaluate the Company’s performance and ability to generate cash flow. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measure, along with sales, is considered to be a key indicator of a Company’s ability to generate operating earnings and cash flow from its mining operations. “Costs of sales per ounce sold” adds depreciation and depletion and share based compensation allocated to production to the cash costs figures.

 

Total cash costs figures are calculated in accordance with a standard developed by The Gold Institute, which was a worldwide association of suppliers of gold and gold products and included leading North American gold producers. The Gold Institute ceased operations in 2002, but the standard is considered the accepted standard of reporting cash cost of production in North America. Adoption of the standard is voluntary, and the cost measures presented may not be comparable to other similarly titled measure of other companies.

 

“Total cash costs per ounce” and “cost of sales per ounce” are intended to provide additional information only and do not have any standardized definition under IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The measures are not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. Other companies may calculate the measure differently. The following table reconciles non-IFRS measures to the most directly comparable IFRS measure.

 

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

 

This news release contains “forward-looking statements” and “forward looking information” (as defined under applicable securities laws), based on management’s best estimates, assumptions and current expectations. Such statements include but are not limited to, statements with respect to Guidance (as described in further detail below),  potential addition of crushing and agglomeration circuit, timing of results for test cells, the Pan Mine exploration and development drilling program, ability to expand resource and reserves, future results attributed to turnaround of the Pan Mine, ability to increase production at the Pan Mine, ability to generate positive cash flow, future financial performance, FEIS and ROD for the Gold Rock project, future development and advancement of the Gold Rock Project, goal to become a 150,000 ounce producer, goal to acquire additional production or near production assets, and other statements, estimates or expectations. Often, but not always, these forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “expects”, “expected”, “budgeted”, “targets”, “forecasts”, “intends”, “anticipates”, “scheduled”, “estimates”, “aims”, “will”, “believes”, “projects” and similar expressions (including negative variations) which by their nature refer to future events.  By their very nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, some of which are beyond Fiore Gold’s control.  These statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. Forward looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, as well as a number of assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company concerning, among other things, anticipated geological formations, potential mineralization, future plans for exploration and/or development, potential future production, ability to obtain permits for future operations, drilling exposure, and exploration budgets and timing of expenditures, all of which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Fiore Gold to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.  Factors that could cause actual results to vary materially from results anticipated by such forward looking statements include, but not limited to, risks related to the Pan Mine performance, risks related to the company’s limited operating history; risks related to international operations; risks  related to general economic conditions, actual results of current or future exploration activities, unanticipated reclamation expenses; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; fluctuations in prices of  metals including gold; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; increases in market prices of mining consumables; possible variations in ore reserves, grade or recovery rates; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results, test results and the estimation of gold resources and reserves; failure of plant, equipment or  processes to operate as anticipated; the possibility that capital and operating costs may be higher than currently estimated; the possibility of cost overruns or unanticipated expenses in the work programs; availability of financing; accidents, labour disputes, title disputes, claims and limitations on insurance coverage and other risks of the mining industry; delays in the completion of exploration, development or construction activities; the possibility that required permits may not be obtained on a timely manner or at all; changes in national and local government regulation of mining operations, tax rules and regulations, and political and economic developments in countries in which Fiore Gold  operates, and other factors identified in Fiore Gold’s filing with Canadian securities authorities under its profile at www.sedar.com respecting the risks affecting Fiore and its business. Although Fiore has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are made as of the date hereof and are qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Fiore disclaims any obligation to revise or update any such factors or to publicly announce the result of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements or forward-looking information contained herein to reflect future results, events or developments, except as require by law. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information.

 

Guidance projections used in this document (“Guidance”) are considered “forward-looking statements” and represent management’s good faith estimates or expectations of future production results as of the date hereof. Guidance is based upon certain assumptions, including, but not limited to, metal prices, oil prices, certain exchange rates and other assumptions. Fiscal Year 2018 Guidance assumes a gold price of US$1,250 per ounce.  Additional details of these assumptions can be found in the Company’s Management’s Discussion and Analysis. Such assumptions may prove to be incorrect and actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. Consequently, Guidance cannot be guaranteed. As such, investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance upon Guidance and forward-looking statements as there can be no assurance that the plans, assumptions or expectations upon which they are placed will occur.

 

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

To view the associated document to this release, please click on the following link:
public://news_release_pdf/FioreGold02212018.pdf

To view the original release, please click here

Source: Fiore Gold Ltd. (TSX Venture:F, FWB:2FO, OTCQB:FIOGF)

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