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REGIS RESOURCES LIMITED — Capital/Financing Update 2012
Nov 27, 2012
65733_rns_2012-11-27_461d0c06-73ca-4f76-969a-c409f12a7ee3.pdf
Capital/Financing Update
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28 November 2012
Manager Announcements Company Announcements Office Australian Securities Exchange Limited Level 4, 20 Bridge Street Sydney NSW 2000
ABN 28 009 174 761
www.regisresources.com Level 1 1 Alvan Street Subiaco WA 6008 Australia P 08 9442 2200 F 08 9442 2290
Corporate and Operating Update
The directors of Regis Resources Ltd provide an update on recent corporate and operating activities.
Debt Repayment
Strong cash flow from the Moolart Well and Garden Well operations in the last two months has facilitated Regis making full repayment of the Company’s $30 million project finance debt. Regis is now debt free, other than normal trade creditors.
Dividend Policy
The Company’s recent AGM presentation (released to ASX 9 November 2012) referred to the board’s intention to commence the payment of dividends at the end of the 2013 financial year (30 June 2013). The board is targeting a 20 cent per share (fully franked) payment for the maiden dividend in the September 2013 quarter. Long term intentions are to establish and maintain a dividend payout ratio in the order of 60% of net profit after tax.
The target maiden dividend payment and the long term payout ratio are subject to numerous factors including but not limited to profitability, cash flow, working capital requirements, other expenditure requirements (including acquisitions, developments and exploration) and the availability of sufficient franking credits.
Garden Well Operational Ramp Up
During the December 2012 quarter management is focussing on the ramp up and optimisation of the Garden Well operation. Mill throughput during the quarter to date has been restricted to around 3.8mtpa (plant nameplate design 4mtpa) due to mining in the upper levels of the open pit supplying a mill feed of exclusively oxide ore with high moisture content. This has caused material handling issues through the primary crusher. This issue will dissipate over the next several months as mining accesses harder transitional and fresh ore below the oxide zone.
The Company has in the last two weeks taken two initiatives to significantly increase throughput whilst milling oxide ore. Firstly, a grizzly screen has been installed to the direct feeder at the crushed ore stockpile. This allows ore to be fed to the mill, bypassing the crushing circuit. This has seen the overall mill throughput rise to around 5.2mtpa over the last four days. Secondly, the installation of a jaw crusher and ore stacker is underway. This additional primary crushing capacity will be operational in the next few days and is expected to further increase throughput.
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Milled ore grade since the start-up of operations has been 1.7g/t gold compared to the reserve grade of the areas mined to date of 2.0g/t gold. Overall reconciliation to the reserve is not yet fully understood given the large volume of ore currently on the run of mine stockpile. However analysis of grade control and actual milled results to date indicates that mining has generated gold ounces in line with the reserve, albeit with up to 15% mining dilution (ie more tonnes at relatively lower grade than the reserve). The reconciliation will be a continuing focus over the next several quarters along with a critical assessment of mining practices to ensure as little as possible mining dilution of the reserve.
Gold production from the Garden Well operation is expected to be in the order of 50,000 – 55,000 ounces in the December 2012 quarter. Gold production guidance for Garden Well for the second half (January - June 2013) remains unchanged at 130,000 – 140,000 ounces. This is an annualised production rate for the second half of the year of 260-280kopa.
Gold production guidance for Moolart Well for fiscal year 2013 has been increased to 100,000 – 110,000 ounces.
Yours sincerely Regis Resources Limited
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Mark Clark Managing Director
Qualification Statement
The technical information in this report has been reviewed and approved by Mr Morgan Hart who is a member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. Mr Hart has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 edition of the ‘Australasian Code for the Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves’. Morgan Hart is a director and full time employee of Regis Resources Ltd and consents to the inclusion in the report of the matters based on his information in the form and context in which it appears.
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