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Gold Wheaton Reports Earnings for 2009
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VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwire - March 11,
2010) - Gold
Wheaton Gold Corp. ("Gold Wheaton") (TSX:GLW) is pleased to
announce the financial results of its first full year of operations for the
year ended December 31, 2009 (unless otherwise indicated, all dollar amounts
are expressed in United States dollars).
2009
HIGHLIGHTS
- Revenue
from the sale of precious metals for the year ended December 31, 2009 of $62.6
million ($15.4 million 2008), an increase of 300% primarily as a result of
higher metal deliveries from FNX Mining Company Ltd. ("FNX") and First Uranium
Corporation ("First Uranium").
- Operating
cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2009 of $23.8 million ($2.4 million
2008).
- Net
income for the year ended December 31, 2009 was $2.3 million ($0.02 per share).
This included adjustments for a future income tax expense of $7.3 million
(primarily due to the Company's election to change its reporting currency to
USD); interest expense of $5.7 million (primarily due to note debentures issued
during 2009) and foreign exchange losses of $5.7 million (primarily as a result
of weakening of the US dollar against the Canadian dollar denominated long term
liabilities). 2009 net income was $7.8 million higher than the net loss of $5.4
million ($0.12 per share) for the year ended December 31, 2008, mainly due to
12 months of deliveries in 2009 from both FNX and First Uranium compared to 5.5
months and 0.5 month respectively in 2008.
- For
the year ended December 31, 2009, 59,827 gold equivalent ounces were delivered
to the Company compared to 18,985 gold equivalent ounces in 2008, an increase
of 215%. FNX delivered approximately 38,908 gold equivalent ounces after the
settlement of prior period sales, compared to 18,761 gold equivalent ounces for
the year ended December 31, 2008. First Uranium delivered approximately 20,919
gold ounces for the year ended December 31, 2009, compared to 224 ounces for
the year ended December 31, 2008.
- At
December 31, 2009, the Company had cash and short term investments of $87.1
million and working capital of $56.9 million compared to $7.4 million and $14.5
million, respectively, on December 31, 2008.
- During
the year, the Company closed a CDN$107 million debt financing. The Company
issued two series of 10% Senior Secured Notes, due May 26, 2014 (the "Series 1
Notes") and due November 26, 2009 (the "Series 2 Notes"), with a principal
amount of CDN$57 million and CDN$50 million respectively. In connection with the
issuance of the Series 1 Notes and Series 2 Notes, the Company issued 7,125,000
and 6,250,000 warrants respectively to the Secured Notes holders at an exercise
price of CDN$5.00 per share for a period of 5 years following the closing of
the offering.
- On December
8, 2009, the Company entered into an agreement with First Uranium (the "EMC
Agreement") to purchase 7% of the life-of-mine gold production from First
Uranium's Ezulwini Mine in South Africa, subject to a minimum delivery of
16,500 and 19,500 ounces of gold in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Gold Wheaton
made an upfront cash payment of $50 million, with a per ounce cash payment of
the lesser of $400 (subject to an inflationary adjustment) and the prevailing
market price being due for gold delivered under the EMC Agreement.
- Subsequent
to December 31, 2009, the Company
graduated to the TSX Exchange effective February 4, 2010. Concurrently, the
Company completed a 10:1 common share consolidation of the total number of
issued and outstanding common shares as approved at the January 11, 2010
Special Meeting of Shareholders. As a result of the share consolidation, the
Company has approximately 143,047,466 common shares outstanding. All stock
options and common share purchase warrants were consolidated on the same basis
as the common shares and have been re-priced accordingly.
"We performed well in 2009, despite a number of issues
that had to be resolved by our gold stream partners. The impact of the Vale
strike on FNX was minimized after decisive action by FNX to find alternate
offtake avenues. We look forward to increased delivery of precious metals from
their Levack footwall zone over 2010 and beyond. Despite the challenges faced
by First Uranium, we believe that a permitting solution has been found to move Mine
Waste Solutions forward," said David Cohen, Chairman and CEO. "We have decided
to defer the institution of our maiden dividend at this time until we are
comfortable that the First Uranium situation has been fully resolved."
Financial Information
For
complete details of financial results, please refer to the unaudited interim
consolidated financial statements and accompanying Management's Discussion and
Analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2009. These
financial statements and MD&A, and the comparative financial statements for
the year ended December 31, 2009 are all available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website www.goldwheaton.com.
Teleconference
call details
Gold
Wheaton will host a telephone conference call on Friday, March 12, 2010, at
10:00am PST (1:00pm EST) to discuss the results. The conference call may be
accessed by dialing 1-800-319-4610 in Canada and the United States, or 1-604-638-5340
internationally.
The
conference call will be archived for later playback until Friday, March 19,
2010 and can be accessed by dialing 604-638-9010 or 1-800-319-6413 and using
the pass code 3504 followed by the number sign, #.
About
the Company
Gold
Wheaton is a gold company with 100% of its operating revenue from the sale of
gold and precious metals produced by others. The Company is actively pursuing
further growth opportunities.
The
Company's shares are listed on the TSX Exchange under the symbol
"GLW" with 143,047,466 shares
issued and outstanding.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Safe
Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform
Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the
information presented constitutes "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such
forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those with respect to
the price of gold, platinum or palladium, the timing and amount of estimated
future production, costs of production, reserve determination and reserves
conversion rates involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gold
Wheaton to be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Such factors include, among other risks, risks related
to the integration of acquisitions, risks related to international operations,
risks related to joint venture operations, the actual results of current
exploration activities, actual results of current reclamation activities,
conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans
continue to be refined, future prices of gold or uranium, the timing and amount
of estimated future production and the costs thereof; capital expenditures; the
availability of any additional capital required to bring future projects into
production; future prices of commodities; the failure of plant, equipment or
processes to operate as anticipated; accidents; labour disputes; delays in
obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of
development or construction activities; currency fluctuations, as well as those
factors discussed in the section entitled "Description of Business - Risk
Factors" in Gold Wheaton's Annual Information Form dated December 10, 2009 as
filed on SEDAR. Although Gold Wheaton has attempted to identify important
factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be
other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be
accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those
anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue
reliance on forward-looking statements.
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of the content of this news release.
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