Great Basin Reports Financial Results for the Quarter Ended September 30,
2009
Great Basin incurred a loss of CDN$0.05 per share during the quarter as compared to CDN$0.04 per share for the quarter ended
At
Pre-development expenses for the Hollister property decreased from CDN$8.5 million to CDN$8.4 million, quarter on quarter. To date, an amount of CDN$79 million has been expensed relating to our Hollister operations. Underground waste development continued with 3,247 ft (984 m) being completed, totaling 8,872 ft (2,688 m) in the year to date. Ore access development was higher at 1,104 ft (336 m) compared to 416 ft (127 m) planned.
Underground evaluation and exploration drilling for other mineralized structures totalled 22,017 ft (6,710 m) for the quarter. Exploration expenses for the quarter decreased to CDN$3.5 million from CDN$4.4 million in the quarter ended
The first phase of refurbishment and commissioning of the
For Burnstone, development costs of CDN$29 million were capitalized in the quarter compared to CDN$33 million in the quarter ended
Good progress continues to be made with the development of surface and underground infrastructure at the Burnstone Project. As at
Sinking of the vertical shaft at Burnstone continued and at
The refurbishment of the mills continues to be on schedule. Foundation excavations for the metallurgical facility were completed and construction of the mill infrastructure has commenced.
President and CEO Ferdi Dippenaar commented on the quarter "The Company continues to make solid progress at both its gold development projects. While the project funding facility for our Burnstone Project was approaching finalization, we saw an opportunity to substitute unsecured convertible debt with a competitive coupon and we were delighted to be able to capitalize on it. The net proceeds of CDN$105 million, or CDN$121 million if the over allotment is exercised, will be used to repay the project funding drawn down to date and together with CDN$55 million cash on hand we have fully funded the remaining costs to completion of the Burnstone project. With the convertible debentures representing only 10% dilution of fully diluted capitalization and no gold hedging required as part of this financing, Great Basin shareholders will benefit from increased leverage to the current gold price momentum."
Johan Oelofse, Pr.Eng., FSAIMM, Chief Operating Officer of Great Basin and a qualified person, as defined by regulatory policy, has reviewed and assumed responsibility for the technical information contained in this release.
-------------------------- (1) Gold equivalent here, and elsewhere in this document, was calculated using a gold price of US$800 per ounce and a silver price of US$12 per ounce. No regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in this news release. Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement Information
This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address possible future commercial production, reserve potential, exploration drilling results, development, feasibility or exploitation activities and events or developments that Great Basin expects to occur are forward-looking statements. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include market prices, exploitation and exploration successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and those actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on the Company, Investors should review the Company's annual Form 40-F filing with the
Cautionary Note regarding Non-GAAP Measurements
Cash cost per ounce produced is a not a generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") based figure but rather is intended to serve as a performance measure providing some indication of the mining and processing efficiency and effectiveness of test mining at the Hollister project. It is determined by dividing the relevant mining and processing costs excluding royalties by the ounces produced in the period. There may be some variation in the method of computation of "cash cost per ounce produced" as determined by the Company compared with other mining companies. In this context, "ounces produced" in-process and dore inventory along with ounces of gold sold in the period. Cash costs per ounce produced may vary from one period to another due to operating efficiencies, waste to ore ratios, grade of ore processed and gold recovery rates in the period. We provide this measure to our investors to allow them to also monitor operational efficiencies of test mining at Hollister. As a Non-GAAP Financial Measures cash cost per ounce should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. There are material limitations associated with the use of such Non-GAAP measures.
For further information: on Great Basin and its gold properties, please visit the Company's website at www.grtbasin.com or contact Investor Services: Tsholo Serunye in South Africa, 27 (0) 11 301 1800; Michael Curlook in North America, (888) 633-9332; Barbara Cano at Breakstone Group in the USA, (646) 452-2334
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