Strategic Minerals PLC Q4 Cobre Sales (US $2.139M) Sets New Record (2543B)

TIDMSML

RNS Number : 2543B

Strategic Minerals PLC

09 January 2018

Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) Disclosure

Certain information contained in this announcement would have been deemed inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 until the release of this announcement.

09 January 2018

Strategic Minerals plc

("Strategic Minerals" or "the Company")

Q4 Cobre Sales (US $2.139M) Sets New Record

Strategic Minerals plc (AIM: SML; USOTC: SMCDY), the diversified mineral development and production company, is pleased to provide the following update on magnetite ore sales at the Company's Cobre operations for the three months to December 2017, and to inform the market of cash available at the end of quarter.

Sales update on Cobre magnetite tailings operations

The Company reports that it achieved sales of US $2.139m (30,730 tons) during the December 2017 quarter, marginally up on the September quarter (US $2.036m / 29,539 tons) and again setting a new quarterly record. Given that the September quarter partly reflected clearance of prepaid June tonnage, this is a strong result.

The 2017 annual sales of US $5.638m (84,980 tons) represents over a 300% increase on 2016 sales of US $1.552m (25,385 tons). Subject to audit review, the Board anticipates 2017 will see the Company record its first before tax profit in excess of US $1m.

The record breaking domestic sales for the December 2017 quarter and volume details are as follows:

 
               Tonnage                Sales (US $'000) 
        ---------------------  ----------------------------- 
 Year    3 months   12 months   3 months       12 months 
          to Dec      to Dec     to Dec          to Dec 
 2017     30,730     84,980      2,139           5,638 
 2016     9,432      25,385       533            1,552 
 2015     7,524      18,454       514                  1,252 
 

Management at Cobre has ensured that the profit margin on sales has been maintained at in excess of 60% during the December 2017 quarter.

Financials and Operations

The Board and Management have continued to maintain tight control on overheads and with sizeable cash flows, and after meeting exploration costs associated with both Redmoor and Hanns Camp, the Company had a healthy cash balance, which at 31 December 2017 was US $3.806m (30 September 2017: US $1.627m). This strong cash position has enabled the Company to settle the cash component of the Leigh Creek Copper Mine acquisition, internally fund the start up of Leigh Creek, internally fund the CARE 2018 drilling programme and internally fund the expected share of 2018 Redmoor exploration expenses.

Commenting, John Peters, Managing Director of Strategic Minerals, said:

"The December quarter has seen the profits and cash flow from our Cobre operations reach record highs. This has placed the Company in a strategically advantageous position, enabling it to acquire the Leigh Creek Copper Mine and undertake exploration with little dilution to shareholders.

"The Board and Management will continue with the asset development plan to drive revenue higher in order to achieve the Company's targets of a GBP100m market capitalisation and a share price above GBP0.0575."

For further information, please contact:

 
 
                                  +61 (0) 414 
 Strategic Minerals plc             727 965 
 John Peters 
 Managing Director 
 www.strategicminerals.net 
 
 Follow Strategic Minerals on: 
 Vox Markets:                     https://www.voxmarkets.co.uk/company/SML/ 
 Twitter:                         @SML_Minerals 
 LinkedIn:                        https://www.linkedin.com/company/strategic-minerals- 
                                   plc 
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                                   inerals%20plc 
 
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 Nominated Adviser and Broker 
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Notes to Editors 
 
 Strategic Minerals Plc is an AIM-quoted, diversified 
 mineral development and production company with 
 projects in the United States of America, the 
 UK and Australia. The Company is focused on acquiring 
 and developing cash generative, high quality projects 
 which meet local market demand for commodities 
 and utilising this cash flow to undertake value 
 added exploration. 
 
 In September 2011, Strategic Minerals purchased 
 its first cash-generating asset; the Cobre magnetite 
 tailings dam project in New Mexico, USA which 
 it brought into production in 2012 and which continues 
 to provide a revenue stream for the Company. The 
 portfolio was expanded in January 2016 with the 
 acquisition of shares in Central Australian Rare 
 Earths Pty Ltd, which holds tenements in Western 
 Australia and the Northern Territory that are 
 prospective for cobalt, gold, nickel sulphides 
 and rare earth elements. The Company has since 
 acquired all shares in Central Australian Rare 
 Earths Pty Ltd. In May 2016, an additional exploration 
 asset was acquired when the Company entered into 
 an agreement with New Age Exploration Limited 
 to acquire up to 50% of the Redmoor Tin/Tungsten 
 project in Cornwall, UK. This 50% acquisition 
 has now been completed and drilling at the project 
 has commenced. The Company is also currently in 
 the process of settling the acquisition of the 
 Leigh Creek Copper Mine situated in the copper 
 rich belt of South Australia. 
 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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January 09, 2018 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)