IMPACT Silver Announces Second Quarter 2018 Financial and Production Results
IMPACT Silver Announces Second Quarter
2018 Financial and Production Results
Trading Symbol: "IPT: TSX.V"
VANCOUVER
,
Aug. 23, 2018
/CNW/ - IMPACT Silver Corp. ("IMPACT" or the "Company") is
pleased to announce its financial results for the six months ending
June 30, 2018
.
The Company reported revenues of
$3.1 million
, a decrease of 13% from same period in 2017, due
to lower grades and fluctuating foreign exchange. Net loss was
$1.0 million
of which
$0.4 million
is
amortization and depletion. IMPACT continues to have no debt on its books and a cash position of
$2.9 million
.
Fred Davidson
, President & CEO of IMPACT stated, "This quarter we encountered the perfect
storm of lower silver prices, lower grades at our mill, and fluctuating currencies. To address this
headwind of lower revenue and rising costs, the team has done an admirable job of reining in costs
and decreasing operating expenses to
$3.8 million
from
$3.9 million
in the same quarter of 2017
while still processing about the same tonnage. Going forward, the Company will focus on ore grade
selection including access to higher zinc zones. On a positive note, we have had excellent drilling
success with the discovery of the new San Ramon Deeps 2 Zone just south of our current active
mining areas."
In 2018, IMPACT has a renewed emphasis on greenfield exploration, with successes at Santa
Teresa and San Ramon announced so far. In Q2 2018, the Company announced a significant
discovery at the San Ramon Deeps extension (see below and news release
July 17, 2018
).
Exploration program results from both El Angel and Guadalupe area drilling are ongoing and results
should be pending shortly. As a junior mining producer and explorer, IMPACT believes the potential
in new discoveries will add more value to the successful decade of production history at the Royal
Mines of
Zacualpan
.
Financial Overview
Revenue for the second quarter was
$3.1 million
, a decrease of 13% from Q2 2017 revenue of
$3.6 million
.
Operating expenses for Q2 2018 were
$3.8 million
, a marginal decrease from Q2 2017 at
$3.9
million
.
Mine operating loss for Q2 2018 was
$1.1 million
compared to
$0.9 million
in Q2 2017.
Net loss for the quarter was
$1.0 million
which included non-cash expenses of
$0.4 million
for
amortization and depletion and a recovery on deferred income taxes and foreign exchange of
$0.5 million
. This compares to a
$1.0 million
net loss for the same period in 2017, which
included
$0.2 million
of foreign exchange loss and non-cash expenses of
$0.7 million
for
amortization, depletion, share-based compensation and a recovery on deferred income taxes of
$0.3 million
.
The Company's cash position at
June 30, 2018
remains at
$2.9 million
, with net working capital
of
$3.1 million
.
The Company has no long-term debt.
Production Overview
Silver production decreased to 194,223 ounces in Q2 2018 from 227,503 ounces in Q2 2017
due to lower feed grade.
Average mill feed grade for silver in the quarter was 146 grams per tonne (g/t) in Q2 2018,
down 16% from 173 g/t in Q2 2017.
Throughput at the mill decreased slightly to 48,090 tonnes milled in Q2 2018 from 48,684 in Q2
2017
Silver sales decreased 17% in the second quarter 2018 to 172,701 ounces compared to 2017 same
period figures of 207,908 ounces due to lower grades. A challenging quarter commenced for metals
with trade wars, geopolitical uncertainties, and investor's reversion to safety in US dollars and
treasuries. Silver prices at
March 2018
were
$16.4
/ounce and continued dropping below
$16.0
/ounce at the end of
June 2018
.
Revenue per tonne sold for the six months ended
June 30, 2018
dropped to
$76.36
versus
$85.40
per tonne in the same period of 2017 due to lower silver grades and a weaker US dollar. The
Company will focus on improving ore grade and optimizing mill capacity to improve revenue per
tonne.
Facing lower metal prices, cost control remains a high priority for IMPACT. Q2 2018 general and
administrative costs dropped to
$0.4 million
from
$0.6 million
in comparable 2017 period. Direct cost
per tonne have also been reined in 5% at
$77.91
in Q2 2018 compared to
$81.94
for Q2 2017.
In July, IMPACT announced a significant discovery at the San Ramon Deeps 2 Zone located
100 meters south of the current active mining areas. Underground drill results included 2.04 meters
of 661 g/t Silver and 4.97 meters of 354 g/t Ag (see IMPACT news release dated
July 17, 2018
for
details). The zone remains open for extension upwards, downwards and to the south.
Currently, results from two other exploration drilling programs are pending and should be announced
shortly – the El Angel and Guadalupe-
Lipton
.
George Gorzynski
, P.Eng., a Qualified Person under the meaning of Canadian National Instrument
43-101, approved the technical content regarding exploration work in this news release.
A recorded conference call reviewing the financial and production results of the six months ended
June 30, 2018
will be available on the Company website on
August 24, 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.
About IMPACT Silver:
IMPACT Silver Corp. is successful silver-gold explorer-producer with two processing plants on
adjacent districts within its 100% owned mineral concessions covering 357km2 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 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 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 NI43
101 the Company is required to disclose
that it has not based its production decisions on NI43
101
compliant mineral resource or reserve
estimates, preliminary economic assessments or feasibility studies, and historically such projects
have increased uncertainty and risk of failure.
SOURCE
IMPACT Silver Corp.
View original content: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/August2018/23/c6393.html
%SEDAR: 00001640E
For further information:
Jerry Huang, MBA, CFO & Investor Relations, (604) 681 0172 or
CO: IMPACT Silver Corp.
CNW 21:51e 23-AUG-18