IMPACT Silver Announces First Quarter 2018 Financial and Production Results
IMPACT Silver Announces First Quarter 2018 Financial and
Production Results
Trading Symbol: "IPT: TSX.V"
VANCOUVER
,
May 28, 2018
/CNW/ - IMPACT Silver Corp. ("IMPACT" or the "Company") is pleased to announce its financial results for
the three months ending
March 31
, 2018.
Fred Davidson
, President and CEO, stated, "Silver prices reached its recent high in
January 2018
at USD
$17.54
an ounce but fell as the quarter
progressed as the US dollar and interest rate started increasing. Nonetheless in Q1 our shares outperformed sector peers largely due to our
exploration success at our sizable 357km
2
land package, 5,000+ underground workings, and high potential exploration targets. The Company
continues to believe its market capitalization remains undervalued given our production and exploration potential."
Operationally, the Company is continuing to improve its mine operating income despite lower silver prices and variably lower grades at the mill. In
Q1 2018, IMPACT incurred a net loss of
$0.5 million
compared to
$0.4 million
in Q1 2017. The Company has implemented cost controls which
have enabled operations to remain near EBITDA breakeven despite lower silver prices, operational delays and lower grades this quarter. These
changes will assist IMPACT with better profitability as silver prices continue to show signs of improvement against a turbulent political and global
economics backdrop.
Financial Overview
Revenues for the first quarter were
$3.9 million
, an improvement from
$3.1 million
in Q4 2017. Operating expenses of
$3.5 million
increased slightly from Q1 2017's
$3.6 million
, but a strong 10% improvement from Q4 2017.
Mine operating earnings before amortization and depletion was
$0.3 million
.
Net loss for the quarter was
$0.5 million
which included
$0.2 million
of foreign exchange loss and non-cash expenses of
$0.3 million
for
amortization, depletion, share based compensation, and deferred income taxes. This compares to a
$0.4 million
net loss for the same period
in 2017, which included
$0.3 million
of foreign exchange loss and non-cash expenses of
$0.8 million
for amortization, depletion, share based
compensation and deferred income taxes.
Cash position remains strong at
$3.8 million
at end of
March 31, 2018
, with net working capital of
$4.8 million
.
Capital expenditures during the quarter included exploration & evaluation asset expenditures of
$0.5 million
(2017 -
$0.9 million
) and
$0.3
million
in property, plant & equipment expenditures (2017 -
$0.3 million
).
Production Overview
Silver production was 203,199 ounces for the first quarter of 2018, down 12% from 230,299 ounces in the same period of 2017.
Average mill feed grade for silver was lower at 160 grams per tonne (g/t) compared to 177 g/t in the first quarters of 2018 and 2017
respectively.
Total tonnes milled during the first quarter of 2018 decreased 4% to 46,602 from 48,743 in the comparable quarter of 2017.
Silver sales decreased 13% in the first quarter to 201,075 ounces from 232,358 ounces sold in the same period in 2017 due to lower grades and
tonnes produced. Silver prices dropped 6% throughout the quarter from a high of USD
$17.54
to the current USD
$16.50
levels. Despite these
market and operational setbacks, revenue per tonne only dropped 8% to
$86.73
in Q1 2018 versus
$94.13
in Q1 2017. This is largely due to a
more favourable refining contract offsetting many of these factors.
The Company will continue exploration with the goal of putting some of the 5,000 + compiled old mine workings in the
Zacualpan
and Capire
districts on a faster track to potential production and build mineral inventories for mining. Exploration is continuing at San Ramon Deeps in 2018
with ongoing progress at a potential northern extension of similar San Ramon deposits beyond quartz block underground.
Starting in 2017, IMPACT has made a commitment to realize further value on our large land package and targets, including divesting
Zacatecas
assets and greenfield exploration work at
Santa Teresa
. Earlier in terms of exploration progress, IMPACT had greenfield success at
Santa Teresa
and continued to delineate targets with more geological work. Previous results included 197 channel and rock chip samples over 1g/t Au and
several over 114.5g/t Au.
In light of higher base metals prices, specifically zinc which has increased from USD
$1,500
/tonne in 2016 to over USD
$3,000
/tonne in 2018,
IMPACT is pursuing the re-opening of its zinc concentrate circuit for potential zinc concentrate sales later in the year. As a reference in 2011,
IMPACT produced over 1,200 tonne zinc per annum.
With a track record of successful exploration, rapid mine development to production and thousands of old mine workings identified to date as
exploration targets from a systemically compiled GIS database with over 75,000 soil samples and 48,500 rock samples since 2005, IMPACT is
well positioned as metal markets continues to improve. The Company remains dedicated to our long-term vision and sees potential for the
establishment of multiple mills throughout the two districts, each fed by multiple mines producing silver-lead-zinc as well as gold and copper.
A recorded conference call reviewing the financial and production results of the three months ended
March 31, 2018
, will be available on the
Company website on
May 29, 2018
, at
www.impactsilver.com/s/ConferenceCalls.asp
.
The information in this news release should be read in conjunction with the Company's unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial
statements and Management's Discussion and Analysis, available on the Company website at
www.impactsilver.com
and on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com
.
All amounts are stated in Canadian dollars unless otherwise specified.
IMPACT Silver Corp. is successful silver-gold explorer-producer with two processing plants on adjacent districts within its 100% owned mineral
concessions covering 357km
2
in central
Mexico's
most prolific silver district in an area that has produced over 250 million ounces with well-known
mines such as
Taxco
.
Over the past twelve years IMPACT has produced over eight million ounces of silver, generating revenues over
$160 million
, with no long-term
debt. At the Royal Mines of Zacualpan Silver District several underground silver mines feed the central 550 tonnes per day (TPD) Guadalupe
processing plant. To the south, in the
Mamatla
District the Capire processing pilot plant is an expandable 200 TPD with a NI-43-101 compliant
resource of silver-lead-zinc awaiting higher metal prices to be restarted. Given the challenging markets the last few years, IMPACT has focused its
exploration efforts on high success rate silver targets, with quick production profiles and proximity to the Guadalupe processing plant. Following a
successful decade plus of exploration success to production cash flows, IMPACT has proven the
Zacualpan
District to be prolific in generating
high grade epithermal silver-gold production feeds. With markets more perceptive to early exploration results, in 2018 IMPACT continues to add
emphasis to exploration work.
Additional information about IMPACT and its operations can be found on the Company website at
www.IMPACTSilver.com
.
On behalf of the Directors of IMPACT Silver Corp.,
"Frederick W. Davidson"
President & CEO
Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This IMPACT News Release may contain certain "forward-looking" statements and information relating to IMPACT that is based on the beliefs of
IMPACT management, as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to IMPACT management. Such statements reflect the
current risks, uncertainties and assumptions related to certain factors including but not limited to, without limitations, exploration and development
risks, expenditure and financing requirements, title matters, operating hazards, metal prices, political and economic factors, competitive factors,
general economic conditions, relationships with vendors and strategic partners, governmental regulation and supervision, seasonality, technological
change, industry practices, and one-time events. Should any one or more risks or uncertainties materialize or change, or should any underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results and forward-looking statements may vary materially from those described herein. IMPACT does not
assume the obligation to update any forward-looking statement.
The Company's decision to place a mine into production, expand a mine, make other production related decisions or otherwise carry out mining
and processing operations, is largely based on internal non-public Company data and reports based on exploration, development and mining work
by the Company's geologists and engineers. The results of this work are evident in the discovery and building of multiple mines for the Company
and in the track record of mineral production and financial returns of the Company since 2006. Under NI 43
101 the Company is required to
disclose that it has not based its production decisions on NI 43
101
compliant mineral resource or reserve estimates, preliminary economic
assessments or feasibility studies, and historically such projects have increased uncertainty.
SOURCE
IMPACT Silver Corp.
View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2018/28/c2618.html
%SEDAR: 00001640E
For further information:
Jerry Huang, Chief Financial Officer, (604) 681-0172 or [email protected]; 1100-543 Granville Street,
Vancouver, BC, Canada V6C 1X8, Telephone (604) 681-0172, Facsimile (604) 681-6813
CO: IMPACT Silver Corp.
CNW 17:49e 28-MAY-18