London, 30th September, 2009:
Hidefield Gold plc ("Hidefield" or the "Company"), the
gold company with advanced projects in Argentina, Brazil and Alaska,
including the Don Nicolas gold project in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina
announces its unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30 June
2009.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Updated
resource estimate at Don Nicholas gold project
- Potential
disposal of Golden Zone gold property in Alaska
- Sale
of Estelle gold project in Alaska
- Settlement
of loan facility via the issuance of common shares
ABOUT HIDEFIELD
Hidefield is a gold company with a focus on the exploration and
development of gold projects in Argentina including the Don Nicolas gold
project in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina.
In Argentina Hidefield is actively exploring the advanced stage Don
Nicolas gold project where it has reported a mineral resource estimate,
prepared in compliance with JORC reporting standards, of 1,078,000 tonnes
at 5.8 grammes per tonne ("gpt") gold for 200,700 ounces of gold
in the Indicated Category and 1,075,000 tonnes at 4.6 gpt for 158,400
ounces of gold, in the Inferred Category. Both resource calculations were
performed using a 90 gpt high grade cut off.
In addition, the Company is exploring an extensive portfolio of gold
exploration licences in the Patagonian provinces of Santa Cruz and Chubut,
Argentina.
The Company's other gold projects including the Cata Preta project
in Brazil and the Golden Zone project in Alaska are the subject of
negotiations to conclude the sales of these projects. These negotiations
are part of Hidefield's strategy to consolidate the Company's exploration
activities in the southern Patagonian provinces of Argentina.
For more information on Hidefield go to www.hidefieldgold.com.
For further information on this release, please contact:
Hidefield Gold Plc
Ken Judge, Chairman: + 44 773 300 1002
Investor Relations
Jon Bey (North America): + 1 800 689 2599
Hanson Westhouse Limited (Nomad and Broker)
Tim Feather / Matthew Johnson: + 44 113 246 2610
Executive Chairman's Statement
I am pleased to report the progress your Company made during 2009 to
date and provide the unaudited interim results for the six months ended 30
June 2009, which have neither been audited nor reviewed pursuant to
guidelines issued by the Auditing Practices Board.
During the half year under review, the Company was particularly
active in its efforts to conclude negotiations for the sale or farm out of
its projects in Alaska and Brazil. I am pleased to report that during this
period an agreement was reached for the sale of Hidefield's interest in the
South Estelle gold project in Alaska to Millrock Resources Inc. In addition
the Company announced on 19 August 2009 that it had entered into a
memorandum of understanding with Fire River Gold Corp for the potential
disposal of Hidefield's interest in the Golden Zone gold project also in
Alaska. Both disposals would provide important funding to assist the
Company to continue exploration on our Argentina projects. Efforts to
conclude similar transactions for the Cata Preta gold project in Brazil are
continuing and we remain optimistic that the Company should be able to
conclude a transaction on this project during the second half of the year.
Despite encouraging recent strength in the gold price, the difficult
general economic environment and the limited capital market interest in
supporting junior exploration companies continues to negatively affect the
Company's ability to fund its ongoing activities at the Don Nicolas gold
project in Argentina.
Encouragingly, other participants in the gold sector seem to share
our optimism about the possibility of the Don Nicolas project eventually
becoming a mine so we are continuing to evaluate the possibility of third
party involvement with this project as a means to ensure the project is
able to progress forward.
This process has inevitably raised the possibility of Hidefield
potentially being acquired and as shareholders will have noted, we recently
announced that discussions were underway with a third party which may lead
to an offer being made for Hidefield. There is of course no certainty that
such an offer will be made and if made, will be successfully concluded but
shareholders will be advised as and when there is further news to report.
In the meantime, we will continue with our efforts to ensure that
the value of our portfolio of gold projects and other investments in listed
securities is properly reflected in the market capitalisation of the
Company.
I also wish to record our gratitude to the lenders and shareholders
who provided Hidefield with the financial resources that enabled the
Company to continue with relatively uninterrupted activity during the
latter part of 2008 and through the first half of 2009. Moreover and
equally important, these lenders which included Hamilton Capital Partners
Limited, a company with which I am associated, agreed to convert their
loans to equity and that agreement was approved by shareholders in late
July 2009, substantially reducing the Company's debt as reported in these
interim financial statements.
Finally, I wish to record the important contribution made by my
fellow directors and our senior management in Argentina and Canada in our
efforts to continue our exploration and business development activities in
Argentina, Brazil and the USA during this period of economic uncertainty. Without this support the
Company's affairs would certainly have suffered greatly and we may not have
attracted the potential takeover interest to which I have referred in this
note and in our recent news release.
Interim results and
going concern
The unaudited results of
our activities and transactions completed during the period under review
and ended 30 June 2009 reflect a decrease in the level of our exploration
activities on our Don Nicolas gold project in southern Argentina. The loss
for the period was �694,992 (2008: �423,214) which included a property
impairment of �303,104 that was not applicable in the comparable period of
2008.
In addition to its
ongoing working capital requirements, the Group must secure sufficient
funding for ongoing mineral property exploration and development. However,
management remains confident that the existing cash and investment
securities are sufficient to meet current operating requirements, and that
any significant project development costs can be met from the raising of
new finance or by attracting an industry partner. However, at the balance
sheet date, these development plans were uncommitted.
Kenneth P Judge
30 September 2009
For the complete copy of
this announcement, including the Unaudited Interim
Results for the Six Months Ended 30 June 2009, visit the Hidefield
website:
http://www.hidefieldgold.com/s/FinancialStatements.asp