SOURCE: Ventura Gold Corp.
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March 03, 2008 08:30 ET
Ventura Reports Third Quarter Financial Results
SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - March 3, 2008) - Ventura Gold Corp. (TSX-V: VGO) (the
"Company") ended the third quarter at December 31, 2007 with approximately
$6.4 million in cash, including $5.0 million in restricted cash
representing share subscriptions received for a non-brokered private
placement in progress. The Company also had approximately $1.5 million in
long-term investments and $0.5 million in market value of securities held
for trading for a total of $2 million in such strategic investments,
compared with a total of approximately $1.5 million for long-term
investments at the end of the second quarter at September 30, 2007.
For the third quarter, the Company reported a net loss of $482,695 ($0.01
per share) for the three months ended December 31, 2007. The Company has
filed its interim unaudited financial statements and management discussion
and analysis (MD&A) for the three and nine month period ended December 31,
2007 on SEDAR. (All amounts are reported in US dollars except as otherwise
indicated).
Highlights during the third quarter ended December 31, 2007 and subsequent
to the end of the quarter included:
-- The Company completed strategic investments totaling $816,133 in
Colombian Mines Corporation, a private unlisted company with early stage
gold properties in Colombia; Sumatra Copper and Gold Limited, a private
unlisted company with a portfolio of early to mid-stage precious and base
metal exploration projects on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia; and
Continental Gold Limited, a private unlisted company with a portfolio of
early to mid-stage precious metal exploration projects in Colombia.
-- On November 20, 2007, the Company announced that it had arranged a non-
brokered private placement and, subsequent to the end of the quarter on
February 15, 2008, the Company closed the financing and issued 17.26
million shares and 8.63 million warrants, raising Cdn$ 7.25 million in
gross proceeds (Cdn$6.9 million net of finders' fees).
-- Subsequent to the end of the quarter, the Company announced drill
results from an initial 15 hole-program totalling 2,900 meters ("m") at the
Quellopata target area of the Inmaculada gold-silver project in Southern
Peru, which included a drill hole with an estimated true width intercept of
3.7 meters at average uncut grades of 9.3 gpt gold and 476 gpt silver. The
Inmaculada Project is a joint venture with a wholly-owned subsidiary of
Hochschild Mining PLC, whereby the Company can acquire up to a 70% interest
and is the exploration operator on the project.
Financial and Exploration Activities Overview
During the nine month period ended December 31, 2007, the Company incurred
a net loss of $0.5 million primarily due to administrative expenses
incurred from on-going exploration activities and an unrealized, non-cash
loss of $43,464 on securities held for trading primarily from one publicly
traded strategic investment. Capitalized expenditures totaled $2.1 million
during the nine month period ended December 31, 2007 for capitalized
mineral property expenditures at its properties: Cottonwood Peak and Del
Oro in Nevada, Gold Gulch in Arizona and Inmaculada in Peru.
Net cash used in investing activities during the nine months was $3.5
million (2006 -- $1.3 million). This was mainly due to the following
transactions: a) the Company incurred $2.0 million in mineral property and
deferred exploration costs on the Cottonwood Peak, Gold Gulch, Inmaculada
and Del Oro mineral properties; and b) the Company acquired $0.2 million in
securities held for trading and $1.3 million in long-term investments
through strategic investment transactions. During the previous year's
comparative period, the Company incurred lower exploration expenditures
totaling $1.1 million and received a $0.1 million repayment of the
remaining balance of the exploration advance previously made for the
Navelgas project in Spain from the Company's optionor and joint venture
partner. The Company also acquired $0.4 million in marketable securities
through strategic investment transactions in the prior year period.
Summary of Quarterly Results (unaudited except for periods ending March 31)
Three Months Ended
=======================================================
December 31, September 30, June 30, March 31,
2007 2007 2007 2007
------------ ------------ ------------- -------------
Total assets $ 12,327,657 $ 7,780,828 $ 7,920,382 $ 7,595,403
Working capital 6,587,528 3,895,982 4,185,965 4,773,175
Shareholders'
equity 12,010,409 7,313,707 7,567,855 7,213,269
Revenues, interest
income 27,531 61,717 24,954 54,995
Net income (loss) (482,695) (314,641) 273,626 1,035
Earnings (loss) per
share (0.01) (0.01) 0.03 0.01
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Outlook
Ventura expects to invest approximately $1.5 million in exploration in
calendar year 2008, mainly focusing on the Inmaculada and Del Oro projects.
This expenditure assumes that the various programs will be successful and
require immediate follow-up. It is anticipated that the Company's existing
cash reserves will be sufficient to finance current planned exploration and
investment activities.
The Company will continue to focus on its two-fold business plan:
-- Acquisition, evaluation and development of low-cost gold-silver and
base-metal deposits with a view to establishing strategic alliances and/or
joint ventures with larger companies;
-- Strategic investments and/or alliances with pre-IPO exploration
companies and listed junior companies where Ventura believes those
companies and management have the resources and expertise to optimize the
potential value of their asset bases.
Toward executing and fulfilling this charter, the critical objectives for
the immediate future are to:
-- Complete Phase II drilling on the Inmaculada silver-gold project in
Peru;
-- Evaluate the pending drill results from the Gold Gulch copper-gold
project and the recent drill results from the Cottonwood Peak gold project
in the USA to determine how to optimize their value to the Company going
forward;
-- Pursue new exploration project options and earn-ins to expand the
exploration pipeline; and,
-- Continue to develop relationships with those companies and management
that have unique capabilities that are complementary to those of the
Company.
Ventura Gold Corp. is a United States-based precious metals exploration and
development company. In addition to exploration properties in Peru, Arizona
and Nevada, Ventura has approximately $2 million in strategic investments
in emerging exploration companies with exposure to projects in the USA,
Mexico, China, Indonesia, Africa, Colombia and Ecuador.
The TSX Venture Exchange neither approves nor disapproves the information
contained in this News Release.
Cautionary Statement: Some of the statements contained in this release are
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities law
requirements. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown
risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results,
performance or achievements to differ materially from that anticipated,
expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from anticipated results include
risks and uncertainties such as: risks relating to obtaining mining and
environmental permits; risk of commodity price fluctuations; political and
regulatory risks; and other risks and uncertainties detailed in the
Company's Renewal Annual Information Form for the year ended March 31, 2007
filed on SEDAR. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update
or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise.