Tertiary Minerals plc, the AIM-traded company building a multi-commodity project portfolio, announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 31 March 2021.
OPERATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS:
NEVADA, USA
Pyramid Gold-Silver Project, Nevada (Lease held 100% by Tertiary)
· Soil sampling and follow-up prospecting completed.
· Rock chip samples from the North Ruth and Western Line soil anomalies returned high grade silver values.
· Additional soil sampling completed over possible strike extension to the Western Line Anomaly. Results awaited.
· Phase 1 trenching and mapping completed on the North Ruth and Western Line anomalies. Results awaited.
Paymaster Zinc-Silver Project, Nevada (100% owned by Tertiary)
· Infill soil sampling completed over East Slope Prospect – Zinc-silver soil anomalies defined over 450m, open to the east.
· Magnetic Vector Inversion modelling has defined magnetic anomalies associated with the East Slope and Valley Prospects and provided additional targets for exploration.
· Field mapping and trenching proposed for spring/summer 2021.
Brunton Pass Copper Project, Nevada (100% owned by Tertiary)
· New project staked with copper mineralisation spread over a 1km x 0.6km target area.
· Samples collected by United States Bureau of Mines contain up to 6.91% copper. Follow up sampling by the Company confirmed widespread copper mineralisation and included an 8ft channel sample grading 4.66% copper over 2.44m (8ft).
· Drone magnetic survey and soil sampling completed. Results awaited.
Mt Tobin Silver Prospect, Nevada (100% owned by Tertiary)
· Associated silver-in-soil and magnetic anomalies defined over a strike length of 1,200m and widths of 75-200m.
· Anomalies are open along strike. Field evaluation planned for summer 2021.
Lucky Copper Project, Nevada (100% owned by Tertiary)
· Hole 21TLRC001 was drilled to a depth of 108.24m
· Two magnetic gossan zones intersected containing low-grade copper (+/-gold) mineralisation.
· Follow up magnetic survey completed to target replacement style mineralisation. Results awaited.
ZAMBIA
· New subsidiary, Luangwa Minerals Limited, formed after period-end to acquire copper exploration and development projects in Zambia.
FINANCIAL SUMMARY FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 31 MARCH 2021:
· Operating Loss of £223,690 comprises:
o Revenue of £81,495; less Administration costs of £243,851 (which includes non-cash share-based payments of £11,608).
o Pre-licence and reconnaissance exploration costs totalling £48,449.
o Impairment of deferred exploration asset of £12,885.
· Total Group Loss of £223,663 is after crediting interest income of £27.
· Project expenditure of £112,494 was capitalised during the 6-month period.
Funding and Cash Position:
· The Company completed a fundraising in the period with Peterhouse Capital Limited raising £450,000 before expenses.
· Warrants were exercised providing £13,750 of funds.
· Precious Metal Capital Group LLC (PMCG) subscribed for shares during the six months period in the amount of £420,000, which was prepaid in April 2020. No further share issues are due to PMCG.
· The closing cash (and cash equivalent) position at the end of the period was £743,497.
For more information please contact:
Enquiries Tertiary Minerals plc Patrick Cheetham, Executive Chairman
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+44 (0)1625 838 679 |
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SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser & Joint Broker Richard Morrison/Caroline Rowe
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+44 (0) 20 3470 0470 |
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Peterhouse Capital Limited Joint Broker Lucy Williams/Duncan Vasey |
+44 (0) 207 469 0930 |
COVID-19
The Company has applied all government guidelines in its day-to-day operations and administration. The restrictions on international travel have impacted the ability of the Company to supervise local operations. Fortunately, this has caused only minor delays and setbacks in the advancement of corporate objectives. Management and staff have carried out their duties diligently and efficiently in the circumstances of the “work-from-home” rules and social distancing. The Company is pleased to report that, to date, it has not incurred any positive cases of Coronavirus amongst its staff.
CAUTIONARY NOTICE
The news release may contain certain statements and expressions of belief, expectation or opinion which are forward looking statements, and which relate, inter alia, to the Company’s proposed strategy, plans and objectives or to the expectations or intentions of the Company’s directors. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the control of the Company that could cause the actual performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should not rely on any forward-looking statements and save as required by the AIM Rules for Companies or by law, the Company does not accept any obligation to disseminate any updates or revisions to such forward-looking statements.
MARKET ABUSE REGULATION (MAR) DISCLOSURE
The information contained within this announcement is deemed by the Company to constitute inside information as stipulated under the Market Abuse Regulations (EU) No. 596/2014 as it forms part of UK domestic law by virtue of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (‘MAR’). Upon the publication of this announcement via Regulatory Information Service (‘RIS’), this inside information is now considered to be in the public domain.
Chairman’s Statement
I am pleased to present our Interim Report for the six-month period ended 31 March 2021 and to be reporting further progress in the Company’s transition from a fluorspar focused company to a broader based company exploring for copper, gold, and silver. We now hold five active projects in Nevada, USA, with exploration programmes in progress across the portfolio.
We have maintained our position in the Storuman fluorspar development project in Sweden where the Company’s mining concession application remains under government review, although, it seems, with little prospect of an imminent decision.
At the Pyramid Gold-Silver Project near Reno, Nevada, which we hold under lease, we are awaiting assay results from a trenching programme completed to test mineralisation found at surface in a follow-up of an earlier soil sampling programme. Infill soil sampling has also been completed, analytical results are awaited and are expected to generate targets for a second phase of trenching.
The Brunton Pass Copper-Gold Project is a newly acquired project which we staked to follow up widespread occurrences of copper oxide minerals at surface and where our own sampling included a 2.44m channel sample grading 4.66% copper. We have moved quickly to carry out a drone magnetic survey and a project-wide soil sampling programme where results are awaited.
An initial drill hole was recently completed at the Lucky Copper Project intersecting narrow zones of gossan containing low copper values. The mineralisation has a magnetic response and is of a replacement type that can include large copper deposits and a drone magnetic survey is now underway to identify larger targets for drilling.
Further work is also scheduled for the Paymaster base metal and Mt Tobin silver projects where there is a strong association of magnetic and geochemical anomalies which present exciting exploration targets and where follow up field evaluation is now planned for the summer.
Copper is increasingly a focus for the Company. It is a key metal in electric vehicles, prices are at record levels and the long-term market outlook is very favourable. After reviewing data on a number of projects around the world, the Company has formed a Zambian subsidiary, Luangwa Minerals Limited, which will target copper exploration and development opportunities in Zambia, one of the world’s top 10 copper producing countries with nearly 900,000 tonnes of copper produced in 2020. Tertiary’s Board has many years of experience with Zambian mining projects and has put together a small team with a successful background in exploring and developing copper projects in Zambia.
We continue to hold our pre-production and production royalties on the Kaaresselkä and Kiekerömaa gold projects in Finland which are being explored by Aurion Resources and an Aurion/B2B Gold joint venture company respectively. These project areas are close to Rupert Resources’ Ikkari gold discovery which is attracting strong investor interest.
Our activities during the period have been funded through existing cash resources, a share placing with joint broker Peterhouse Capital Limited that raised £450,000 (before expenses), and also an exercise of warrants which raised £13,750. Precious Metals Capital Group (PMCG) was issued with shares during the reporting period to the value of £420,000 and the £600,000 placing & prepayment agreement signed in April 2020 is now settled in full. No further share issues are due to PMCG.
The Net Current Assets of the Group at the period end were £761,220 including cash and cash equivalents of £743,497.
On the corporate front we were pleased that Dr Mike Armitage has joined the Board as an independent non-executive director during the reporting period and we expect Mike’s wide global experience with SRK Consulting will be a valuable asset for the Company going forward.
We anticipate regular news flow over the remainder of the financial year and look forward to advising shareholders of our progress.
Patrick L Cheetham
Executive Chairman
26 May 2021
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