Rohstoff-Welt.de - Die ganze Welt der Rohstoffe

Banro Announces Q2 2017 Financial and Operating Results

17.08.2017  |  Marketwired

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Aug 16, 2017) - Banro Corp. ("Banro" or the "Company") (NYSE American:BAA)(NYSE MKT:BAA)(TSX:BAA) today announced its financial and operating results for the second quarter of 2017.

FINANCIAL SUMMARY

OPERATIONAL SUMMARY

All dollar amounts in this press release are expressed in thousands of dollars (except per ounce amounts) and, unless otherwise specified, in United States dollars.

(i) Financial

The table below provides a summary of financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2017 and 2016 as well as the three months ended March 31, 2017.

Q2 2017 Q2 2016(1) Change % Q1 2017(1) H1 2017 H1 2016(1) Change %
Selected Financial Data
Operating revenues 41,876 59,649 (30 %) 55,226 97,102 106,189 (9 %)
Total mine operating expenses1 (38,075 ) (50,217 ) (24 %) (50,539 ) (88,614 ) (93,186 ) (5 %)
Gross earnings from operations 3,801 9,432 (60 %) 4,687 8,488 13,003 (35 %)
Loss on Recapitalization (9,969 ) - - - (9,969 ) - -
Net loss (21,787 ) (14,326 ) 52 % (15,620 ) (37,407 ) (38,040 ) (2 %)
EBITDA 6,596 16,432 (60 %) 12,536 19,132 25,467 (25 %)
Basic net loss per share ($/share) (0.23 ) (0.47 ) (51 %) (0.51 ) (0.60 ) (1.33 ) (145 %)
Key Operating Statistics
Average gold price received ($/oz) 1,187 1,201 (1 %) 1,158 1,171 1,159 1 %
Gold sales (oz) 35,280 49,681 (29 %) 47,673 82,953 91,648 (9 %)
Gold production (oz) 38,739 49,673 (22 %) 46,215 84,954 93,865 (9 %)
All-in sustaining cost per ounce ($/oz) - mine site 1,128 901 25 % 933 1,016 880 15 %
Cash cost per ounce ($/oz) 824 735 12 % 776 797 750 6 %
Gold margin ($/oz) 363 466 (22 %) 382 374 409 (9 %)
Financial Position
Cash 3,492 5,507 7,584 3,492 5,507
Gold bullion inventory at market value2 13,752 7,645 9,547 13,752 7,645
Total assets 676,402 674,879 664,065 676,402 674,879
Long term debt - current and non-current 184,172 192,464 207,500 184,172 192,464
(1) Results for three months ended March 31, 2017 and the three and six months ended June 30, 2016 have been restated to reflect a change in the accounting policy for the treatment of exploration and evaluation costs. See Notes 3c and 29 of the Company's June 30, 2017 interim financial statements filed on Sedar.
(2) Includes depletion and depreciation.
(3) This represents 11,073 ounces of gold bullion inventory shown at June 30, 2017 closing market price of $1,242 per ounce of gold.

(ii) Operational - Twangiza

(iii) Operational - Namoya

(iv) Exploration

(v) Corporate Development

(vi) Subsequent Events

  1. The execution of two gold forward sale agreements to raise $26 million:

    1. The first gold forward sale agreement is with the Company's two largest shareholders as purchasers, "Gramercy" and "Baiyin" (each as defined in the Company's July 17, 2017 press release), and provides for the prepayment by the purchasers of $20 million for their purchase of a total of approximately 20,924 ounces of gold from the Namoya mine, with gold deliveries over 12 months beginning January 2018, at approximately 1,744 ounces of gold per month. The forward sale may be terminated at any time upon a payment in cash or gold to provide an internal rate-of-return ("IRR") of 15% to the purchasers. The terms of the forward sale also include a gold floor price mechanism whereby, if the gold price falls below $1,100 per ounce in any month, additional ounces are deliverable to ensure an effective realized gold price of $1,100 per ounce for that month's gold delivery.

    2. The second gold forward sale agreement is with Baiyin as purchaser, and provides for the prepayment by the purchaser of $6 million for its purchase of a total of approximately 6,337 ounces of gold from the Twangiza mine, with gold deliveries over eight months beginning January 2018, at approximately 792 ounces of gold per month. The forward sale may be terminated at any time upon a payment in cash or gold to provide an IRR of 19.54% to the purchaser. The terms of the forward sale also include a gold floor price mechanism whereby, if the gold price falls below $1,100 per ounce in any month, additional ounces are deliverable to ensure an effective realized gold price of $1,100 per ounce for that month's gold delivery.

  2. A deferral of gold delivery obligations from July 1, 2017 until December 31, 2017 under an existing Twangiza gold forward sale agreement and under the Namoya stream agreement, in each case with Gramercy. Assuming a gold price of $1,250 per ounce during the six-month deferral period (net of the $150 per ounce gold transfer price in the case of the stream deferred gold), the estimated total value of the deferred gold deliveries is approximately $8.2 million. The gold delivery schedule for these agreements has been amended such that the deferred gold (estimated to be approximately 7,172 ounces) plus additional ounces in lieu of the associated financing charges will be delivered over the first eight months of 2018, in order to maintain the implied IRR of the original terms.

Outlook

Banro intends to control costs by continuing to improve operating efficiencies through optimizing operating procedures and increasing production and processing capacities at Twangiza and Namoya to benefit from economies of scale, while maintaining strong environmental and safety standards.

The Company is actively investigating the possibility of establishing underground mining under the existing open pits. Given Twangiza and Namoya's favorable topography, adit access by horizontal or nearly horizontal shafts would be employed which could be less capital intensive than typical underground mining operations which utilize vertical shafts.

With regard to the lower than expected gold production achieved at both mines during the first six months of 2017 and the ongoing challenging operating environment given the current instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Company does not expect to reach its previously provided 2017 gold production outlook and is currently not in a position to provide updated forward-looking gold production information for the remainder of 2017.

In light of the Company's ongoing operational and working capital challenges, the Company is continuing to explore opportunities to raise additional financing and/or refinance existing obligations with the objective of supporting the Company's operating activities. No assurance can be given with respect to the Company successfully obtaining additional financing or refinancing.

Qualified Person

Daniel K. Bansah, the Company's Head of Projects and Operations and a "qualified person" as such term is defined in National Instrument 43-101, has approved the technical information in this press release.

Non-IFRS Measures

Management uses cash costs, all-in sustaining costs, average gold price received, gold margin, and EBITDA to monitor financial performance and provide additional information to investors and analysts. These measures do not have a standard definition under International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. As these measures do not have a standardized meaning, they may not be comparable to similar measures provided by other companies. However, the methodology used by the Company to determine cash cost per ounce is based on a standard developed by the Gold Institute, which was an association that included gold mining organizations, amongst others, from around the world.

The Company defines cash cost, as recommended by the Gold Institute standard, as all direct costs that the Company incurs relating to mine production, transport and refinery costs, general and administrative costs, movement in production inventories and ore stockpiles, less depreciation. Cash cost per ounce is determined on a sales basis. The Company defines all-in sustaining costs as all direct costs that the Company incurs relating to mine production, transport and refinery costs, general and administrative costs, movement in production inventories and ore stockpiles, less depreciation and depletion plus all sustaining capital costs (excluding exploration). All-in sustaining cost per ounce is determined on a sales basis.

Q2 2017 Q1 2017
Twangiza Namoya Consolidated Twangiza Namoya Consolidated
Mine Operating Costs ($) 18,279 19,796 38,075 26,217 24,322 50,539
Depreciation ($) (3,882 ) (5,107 ) (8,989 ) (6,172 ) (7,351 ) (13,523 )
Cash Costs ($) 14,397 14,689 29,086 20,045 16,971 37,016
Sustaining Capital ($) 4,384 6,318 10,702 3,997 3,484 7,481
All-In Sustaining Cost - Mine Site ($) 18,781 21,007 39,788 24,042 20,455 44,497
General and Administrative Costs and Other ($) 3,774 3,401
All-In Sustaining Cost - Total ($) 43,562 47,898
Ounces Sold 17,197 18,083 35,280 24,578 23,095 47,673
Cash Cost per Ounce $/oz 837 812 824 816 735 776
All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce - Mine Site $/oz 1,092 1,162 1,128 978 886 933
All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce - Total $/oz 1,235 1,005
Q2 2016
Twangiza Namoya Consolidated
Mine Operating Costs ($) 24,259 25,958 50,217
Depreciation ($) (5,889 ) (7,815 ) (13,704 )
Cash Costs ($) 18,370 18,143 36,513
Sustaining Capital ($) 4,166 4,059 8,225
All-In Sustaining Cost - Mine Site ($) 22,536 22,202 44,738
General and Administrative Costs and Other ($) 4,916
All-In Sustaining Cost - Total ($) 49,654
Ounces Sold 26,492 23,189 49,681
Cash Cost per Ounce $/oz 693 782 735
All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce - Mine Site $/oz 851 957 901
All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce - Total $/oz 999
H1 2017 H1 2016
Twangiza Namoya Consolidated Twangiza Namoya Consolidated
Mine Operating Costs ($) 44,496 44,118 88,614 45,802 47,384 93,186
Depreciation ($) (10,054 ) (12,458 ) (22,512 ) (11,306 ) (13,190 ) (24,496 )
Cash Costs ($) 34,442 31,660 66,102 34,496 34,194 68,690
Sustaining Capital ($) 8,381 9,802 18,183 7,072 4,856 11,928
All-In Sustaining Cost - Mine Site ($) 42,823 41,462 84,285 41,568 39,050 80,618
General and Administrative Costs and Other ($) 7,175 8,845
All-In Sustaining Cost - Total ($) 91,460 89,463
Ounces Sold 41,775 41,178 82,953 51,716 39,932 91,648
Cash Cost per Ounce $/oz 824 769 797 667 856 750
All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce - Mine Site $/oz 1,025 1,007 1,016 804 978 880
All-In Sustaining Cost per Ounce - Total $/oz 1,103 976

The Company defines gold margin as the difference between the cash cost per ounce disclosed and the average price per ounce of gold sold during the reporting period.

EBITDA is intended to provide additional information to investors and analysts to determine cash earnings before financing and taxes. The Company calculates EBITDA as net income or loss for the period excluding: interest, income tax expense, depreciation and amortization, and other isolated or non-recurring non-cash charges. EBITDA does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by IFRS and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. EBITDA excludes the impact of cash costs of financing activities and taxes, and the effects of changes in operating working capital balances, and therefore is not necessarily indicative of operating profit or cash flow from operations as determined under IFRS. Other companies may calculate EBITDA differently. A reconciliation between net loss for the period and EBITDA is presented below:

Q2 2017 Twangiza Namoya Total Mine Corporate and Exploration Consolidated
$ $ $ $ $
Net income/(loss) (756 ) 1,790 1,034 (22,821 ) (21,787 )
Loss on Recapitalization - - - 9,969 9,969
Finance expenses 1,270 1,490 2,760 8,986 11,746
Other non-cash charges 311 (2,336 ) 2,025 (372 ) (2,397 )
Share-based payments 3 (6 ) (3 ) 30 27
Depletion and depreciation 3,882 5,107 8,989 49 9,038
Taxes - - - - -
EBITDA 4,710 6,045 10,755 (4,159 ) 6,596
Q1 2017 Twangiza Namoya Total Mine Corporate and Exploration Consolidated
$ $ $ $ $
Net income/(loss) (1,431 ) 1 (1,430 ) (14,190 ) (15,620 )
Finance expenses 1,399 1,587 2,986 9,114 12,100
Other non-cash charges 1,021 24 1,045 1,355 2,400
Share-based payments 6 5 11 71 82
Depletion and depreciation 6,172 7,351 13,523 51 13,574
Taxes - - - - -
EBITDA 7,167 8,968 16,135 (3,599 ) 12,536
H1 2017 Twangiza Namoya Total Mine Corporate and Exploration Consolidated
$ $ $ $ $
Net income/(loss) (2,187 ) 1,791 (396 ) (37,011 ) (37,407 )
Loss on Recapitalization - - - 9,969 9,969
Finance expenses 2,669 3,077 5,746 18,100 23,846
Other non-cash charges 1,332 (2,312 ) (980 ) 983 3
Share-based payments 9 (1 ) 8 101 109
Depletion and depreciation 10,054 12,458 22,512 100 22,612
Taxes - - - - -
EBITDA 11,877 15,013 26,890 (7,758 ) 19,132
Q2 2016 Twangiza Namoya Total Mine Corporate and Exploration Consolidated
$ $ $ $ $
Net income/(loss) 2,382 (1,676 ) 706 (15,032 ) (14,326 )
Finance expenses 966 1,884 2,850 7,532 10,382
Other non-cash charges 2,631 260 2,891 3,284 6,175
Share-based payments 21 15 36 306 342
Depletion and depreciation 5,889 7,815 13,704 155 13,859
Taxes - - - - -
EBITDA 11,889 8,298 20,187 (3,755 ) 16,432
H1 2016 Twangiza Namoya Total Mine Corporate and Exploration Consolidated
$ $ $ $ $
Net income (loss) 1,420 (8,348 ) (6,928 ) (31,112 ) (38,040 )
Finance expenses 4,394 3,150 7,544 15,203 22,747
Other non-cash charges 5,466 1,693 7,159 8,439 15,598
Share-based payments 25 17 42 347 389
Depletion and depreciation 11,306 13,190 24,496 277 24,523
Taxes - - - - -
EBITDA 22,611 9,702 32,313 (6,846 ) 25,467

Banro Corporation is a Canadian gold mining company focused on production from the Twangiza and Namoya mines, which began commercial production in September 2012 and January 2016 respectively. The Company's longer-term objectives include the development of two additional major, wholly-owned gold projects, Lugushwa and Kamituga. The four projects, each of which has a mining license, are located along the 210 kilometres long Twangiza-Namoya gold belt in the South Kivu and Maniema provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ("DRC"). All business activities are followed in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.

Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements regarding the Company's future operations and financial condition, mineral resource and mineral reserve estimates, potential mineral resources and mineral reserves and the Company's production, development and exploration plans and objectives) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things:
uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing; uncertainty of estimates of capital and operating costs, production estimates and estimated economic return of the Company's projects; the possibility that actual circumstances will differ from the estimates and assumptions used in the economic studies of the Company's projects; failure to establish estimated mineral resources and mineral reserves (the Company's mineral resource and mineral reserve figures are estimates and no assurance can be given that the intended levels of gold will be produced); fluctuations in gold prices and currency exchange rates; inflation; gold recoveries being less than those indicated by the metallurgical testwork carried out to date (there can be no assurance that gold recoveries in small scale laboratory tests will be duplicated in large tests under on-site conditions or during production); changes in equity markets; political developments in the DRC; lack of infrastructure; failure to procure or maintain, or delays in procuring or maintaining, permits and approvals; lack of availability at a reasonable cost or at all, of plants, equipment or labour; inability to attract and retain key management and personnel; changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities; the uncertainties involved in interpreting drilling results and other geological data; and the other risks disclosed under the heading "Risk Factors" and elsewhere in the Company's annual report on Form 20-F dated April 2, 2017 filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and EDGAR at www.sec.gov. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.



Contact

Investor Relations
+1 (416) 366-2221
+1-800-714-7938
info@banro.com
www.banro.com