FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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RELEASE 07-08
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MINES MANAGEMENT, INC.
SECOND QUARTER RESULTS AND
MONTANORE SILVER-COPPER PROJECT UPDATE
SPOKANE,
WASHINGTON – August 20, 2007 – Mines Management, Inc. (Amex: MGN,
TSX: MGT) is pleased to announce results for the second quarter of 2007 and
provide an update on activities at the Montanore Silver-Copper Project,
including progress made on preparations for the advanced exploration and
delineation drilling program and the permitting process.
Overview
The Montanore project
continues to be the Company’s main focus and, in addition to the planned
advanced exploration and delineation drilling program, the Company is
continuing its repermitting efforts with applicable
federal and state agencies and its optimization review of the Project.
During the second quarter
of 2007, the Company closed an offering of its equity securities for gross
proceeds to the Company of US$34,183,000, or US$32,125,000 in net proceeds
after deducting underwriting commissions but before deducting offering
expenses. As a result, management believes that the Company has
sufficient funds on hand to finance the first three phases of its advanced
exploration and delineation program at the Montanore Project, which it expects
to complete during the next twenty-four months.
Highlights
In the second quarter of
2007, the Company:
·
Completed
a $34.2 million public offering of equity.
·
Initiated
preparations for the advanced exploration and delineation drilling program by,
among other things:
o
ordering
a $1 million water treatment plant and building;
o
hiring
additional staff at the Libby adit site to support
initiation of underground activities at the Libby adit,
including dewatering, rehabilitation, advancement, drifting, and delineation
drilling;
o
placing a $2.8 million order for Sandvik
underground mining equipment.
·
Advanced
the permitting process by working closely with state and federal agencies to
provide technical and other information in support of the preparation of the
draft environmental impact statement.
During the second quarter,
the Company initiated its two-year advanced exploration and delineation
drilling program at the Montanore Project site. The Company expects to
dewater and rehabilitate the Libby adit, and then
advance the adit approximately 3,000 feet toward the
middle of the mineral deposit. The Company plans an additional 10,000 feet
of development drifting to provide drill access to different portions of the
deposit, construction of drill stations, and Diamond core drilling of
approximately 50 holes totaling approximately 45,000 feet. The objectives of
the advanced exploration and delineation program are to:
·
Expand
the known higher grade intercepts of the Montanore deposit;
·
Develop
additional information about the deposit;
·
Further
assess and define the mineralized zone; and
·
Provide
additional geotechnical, hydrological, and other data.
The Company expects that
results of the drilling program, if successful, would provide data to support
the completion of a bankable feasibility study, allowing the Company to convert
a portion of its mineralized material/resource estimates into reserves.
The net cash expenditures
for operating activities for the quarter ending June 30, 2007 was $1.6
million. The Company believes that the recently completed financing
provides sufficient working capital for rehabilitation of the Libby adit and commencement of the delineation drilling program
over the next two years. In order to complete the planned program through
bankable feasibility, the Company would need an additional $10 million in
external financing.
Advanced Exploration and Delineation Drilling Program
During the second quarter
of 2007, the Company initiated the first stage of its planned advanced
exploration and delineation drilling program, during which it plans to dewater
and rehabilitate the Libby adit. Delivery of a
$1 million water treatment plant, through which the water discharged from the adit will be filtered, is expected to be delivered during
the third quarter of 2007, followed by commissioning and startup.
Also during the second
quarter, additional staff including one chief geologist and one project engineers, were hired, and the construction of additional
office space in Libby was initiated in preparation for commencement of
dewatering and rehabilitation of the adit.
Eight full time employees are on staff for the project as of June 30, 2007.
The Company expects to
begin rehabilitation activities shortly after dewatering begins.
These activities are anticipated to include scaling the back of the adit, installing new roof bolts and extending utilities
into the adit, including electricity, piping,
ventilation, and dewatering infrastructure.
In preparation for
commencement of the planned second stage of the program, the Company has
ordered primary mobile mine equipment, including:
·
one
roof bolter,
·
one
twin boom jumbo face drill
·
one
four cubic yard LHD unit,
·
one
six cubic yard LHD unit, and
·
two
underground twenty-four cubic yard trucks,
all of which are expected to be delivered
during 2007. The Company expects capital expenditures of $12 million during the remainder of 2007
for equipment and activities related to the advancement of the drilling program.
Also in the second
quarter, the Company performed quality control and assurance review of its
initial revised mine model. The Company expects to confirm the accuracy
of this model by inputting the data gathered during the delineation drilling
program, which, if the Company is successful in obtaining the permits necessary
to support further development of the Montanore Project, is expected to support
a bankable feasibility study.
Permitting and Environmental
During the second quarter
of 2007, the Company continued to work closely with the U.S. Forest Service
(USFS) and Montana Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) on the draft
environmental impact statement (EIS). Chapter-2 of the EIS (Proposed Action)
was completed in draft form and submitted to the agencies for review by the
Company’s third party EIS contractor in late July 2007. In
addition, the Company participated in the discussion and development of
proposed alternatives for placement of tailings, plant site and portal
locations that will be assessed and analyzed as part of the overall EIS review.
The Company also continues
to work with the State of Montana
on additional technical details related to the MPDES discharge permit,
transmission line, and other state authorizations required for the
Project. Once the draft EIS is completed, the Company will update its
permit applications to match the agencies’ preferred alternatives, and
will include the 404 permit application submittal to the Army Corps of
Engineers.
The USFS and MDEQ have
advised the Company that they now expect to begin internal review of the
completed draft EIS in October 2007. The Company has submitted comments to the
agencies on ways to improve this schedule. Once the agencies have completed
their review, the draft EIS and draft permits will be provided to the public
for review and comment. The agencies may consider public comments in preparing
the final EIS and final permits. When the public review process is
concluded, the agencies would proceed to determine the form of the final EIS
and permits and would issue a joint Record of Decision setting forth their
decisions on our proposed plan of operations and hard rock mining
program. The agencies have not set a preliminary schedule to issue the
final EIS and Record of Decision. Management expects that the number of
comments received will determine the schedule but does not expect a Record of
Decision before the end of the fourth quarter of 2008.
Financial and Operating Results
Mines Management is an
exploration stage company with a large silver-copper project, the Montanore
Project, located in northwest Montana.
The Company continues to expense all of its expenditures and has no revenues
from mining operations. Financial results of operations include primarily
interest income, general and administrative expenses, permitting, project
advancement and engineering expenses and other miscellaneous.
Quarter Ended June 30,
2007
The Company reported a net
loss for the quarter ended June 30, 2007 of $1.6 million or $0.09 per share
compared to a $1.5 million loss or $0.12 per share for the quarter ended June
30, 2006. The $0.1 million increase in net loss was attributed to a $0.1
million increase in the second quarter in legal, accounting, financing, and
administrative expenses related to increased investor relations activities, and
a $0.3 million increase in employee compensation as a result of bonuses, salary
increases, and the addition of four new employees, offset by a $0.3 million
decrease in expenditures at the Montanore Project in the second quarter of 2007
for permitting, engineering, and environmental analysis, compared to the second
quarter of 2006. Project spending decreased in the second quarter of 2007
as the Company reduced its permitting activities as it focused on obtaining
financing for the delineation drilling program.
Six Months Ended June 30,
2007
The net loss for the six
months ended June 30, 2007 was $3.4 million or $0.22 per share versus a loss of
$2.6 million or $0.20 per share for the six months ended June 30, 2006.
The $0.8 million increase in net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2007
compared to the six months ended June 30, 2006 is largely attributed to a $0.5
million increase in legal, accounting and administrative expenses related to the
increased cost of implementing Sarbanes-Oxley internal control procedures,
investor relations activities related to the public offering, increased
compensation expense of $0.4 million and a $0.1 million increase in equipment
rental costs at the Montanore site. These increased expenditures were
offset by an increase of $0.2 million in interest income for the first half of
the year.
Liquidity
For the quarter ended June
30, 2007, the net cash used for operating activities was $1.0 million, which
consisted largely of legal and accounting expenses associated with the public
offering. The net cash provided by financing activities for the quarter
was $31.6 million from the public offering completed during the quarter. The
net cash used in investing activities during the quarter was $0.9 million on
procurement of fixed assets and construction in progress. The net
increase in cash on hand at the end of the second quarter 2007 versus year-end
2006 was $29.7 million.
For the six months ended
June 30, 2007 the net cash from financing activities was $31.6 million from the
public offering. The net increase in cash on hand at the end of the half
year ending 2007 versus 2006 was $29.5 million.
The Company anticipates
spending approximately $12 million from cash and investments on hand during the
final two quarters of 2007 for activities and equipment purchases related to
the advanced exploration and delineation drilling program and the Montanore
Project permitting. The Company believes that the recently completed financing
provides sufficient working capital for rehabilitation of the Libby adit and commencement of the delineation drilling program
which will take place over the next two years. The Company will need an
additional $10 million in external financing in order to complete the planned
program through completion of a bankable feasibility study, which is a
necessary prerequisite to development and production at Montanore.
About Mines Management
Mines Management, Inc. is an
advanced exploration stage company focused on the acquisition, exploration and
advancement of precious and base metals mineral deposits. The Company is
currently focused on the Montanore Silver-Copper Project located in
northwestern Montana.
The Montanore Project contains a large silver and copper resource.
Forward Looking Statements
Some information contained
in or incorporated by reference into this report may contain forward looking
statements. These statements include comments regarding Montanore Project
permitting, the commencement and completion of activities related to the
planned rehabilitation of the Libby adit and
delineation drilling program, the hiring of additional staff, and the markets
for silver and copper. The use of any of the words
“development”, “anticipate”, “continues”,
“estimate”, “expect”, “may”,
“project”, “should”, “believe”, and similar
expressions are intended to identify uncertainties. The Company believes
the expectations reflected in those forward looking statements are
reasonable. However, the Company cannot assure that the expectations will
prove to be correct. Actual results could differ materially from those
anticipated in these forward looking statements as a result of the factors set
forth below and other factors set forth and incorporated by reference into this
report, including worldwide economic and political events affecting the supply
of and demand for silver and copper, volatility in the market price for silver
and copper, financial market conditions and the availability of financing on
acceptable terms, uncertainties associated with developing new mines,
variations in ore grade and other characteristics affecting mining, crushing,
milling and smelting and mineral recoveries, geological, technical, permitting,
mining and processing problems, the availability, terms, conditions and timing
of required governmental permits and approvals, uncertainty regarding future
changes in applicable law or implementation of existing law, the availability
of experienced employees, the factors discussed under “Risk Factors”
in our Form 10-K, as amended, for the period ending December 31, 2006.
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