Condor Gold
Plc
7/8
Innovation Place
Douglas
Drive,
Godalming,
Surrey
GU7
1JX
14 November
2024
Condor Gold
Plc
("Condor"
or "the Company")
£475,000 Loan
Facility
Condor Gold plc ("Condor Gold",
"Condor", the "Group" or the "Company"), (AIM: CNR; TSX: COG) is
pleased to announce it has entered into an unsecured term loan
facility (the "Facility") with Galloway Limited for up to
£475,000.
Galloway Limited is a company wholly
owned by Burnbrae Group Limited which is, in turn, wholly owned by
Jim Mellon, Condor's Chairman. Galloway Limited owns 26.13% of the
Company's issued ordinary share capital. Denham Eke, a Non-Executive Director of Condor, is also a
director of the Burnbrae Group Limited and Galloway Limited. The
Board is grateful to Jim Mellon for his continued support of the
Company.
£200,000 is available from the 4
November 2024 and £275,000 is available from 2 December 2024. Any
amount of the Facility not drawn down by 31 December 2024 will
automatically be cancelled.
The unsecured term loan facility
carries an interest rate of 20%. Interest shall accrue daily and
shall be compounded monthly. The Company shall repay the aggregate
loans in full on the first to occur of (1) completion of the sale
of the SAG Mill by the Company; (2) completion of a sale of all or
substantially all of the assets of the Company; (3) completion of a
sale of the entire issued share capital of the Company; and (4) the
date falling 12 months from 14 November 2024.
The use of proceeds for the money
borrowed under the Facility is for general working capital
purposes, as set out in an agreed budget with Galloway
Limited.
The provision of the Facility is a
Related Party Transaction under AIM Rule 13. Accordingly, the
Independent Directors, being Mark Child, Ian Stalker and Andrew
Cheatle having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser,
Beaumont Cornish Limited, consider the terms of the Facility to be
fair and reasonable insofar as shareholders are
concerned.
TSX
Matters
The Company is relying on the
exemption provided for pursuant to Section 602.1 of the TSX Company
Manual (the "Manual") from the requirements of the Manual and the
TSX relating to the issue of New Shares Ordinary, including the
requirements of Section 613 of the Manual, as the Company is an
"Eligible Interlisted Issuer" as defined in the Manual.
- Ends -
For further information please visit
www.condorgold.com or contact:
Condor Gold plc
|
Mark Child, CEO
+44 (0) 20 7493 2784
|
Beaumont Cornish Limited
|
Roland Cornish and James
Biddle
+44 (0) 20 7628 3396
|
SP Angel Corporate Finance
LLP
|
Ewan Leggat
+44 (0) 20 3470 0470
|
H&P Advisory Limited
|
Andrew Chubb, Matt Hasson, Jay
Ashfield
+44 207 907 8500
|
Adelaide Capital (Investor
Relations)
|
Deborah Honig
+1-647-203-8793
|
About Condor Gold plc:
Condor Gold plc was admitted to AIM
in May 2006 and dual listed on the TSX in January 2018. The Company
is a gold exploration and development company with a focus on
Nicaragua.
The Company's principal asset is La
India Project, Nicaragua, which comprises of a large, highly
prospective land package of 588 sq km comprising of 12 contiguous
and adjacent concessions. The Company has filed a feasibility study
technical report dated 25 October 2022 and entitled "Condor Gold
Technical Report on the La India Gold Project, Nicaragua, 2022"
(the "2022 FS") which is available on the Company's SEDAR profile
at www.sedar.com and was prepared in accordance with the
requirements of NI 43-101. The 2022 FS indicated that La India
Project hosts a high grade Mineral Resource Estimate ("MRE") of
9,672 kt at 3.5g/t gold for 1,088,000 oz gold in the indicated
mineral resource category and 8,642 kt at 4.3 g/t gold for
1,190,000 oz gold in the inferred mineral resource category. The
open pit MRE is 8,693 kt at 3.2 g/t gold for 893,000 oz gold in the
indicated mineral resource category and 3,026 kt at 3.0 g/t gold
for 291,000 oz gold in the inferred mineral resource category.
Total underground MRE is 979 kt at 6.2 g/t gold for 94,000 oz gold
in the indicated mineral resource category and 5,615 kt at 5.0 g/t
gold for 98,000 oz gold in the inferred mineral resource
category.
The 2022 FS replaces the previously
reported Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") as presented in
the Technical Report filed on SEDAR in October 2021 as the current
technical report for the La India project.
The 2021 PEA considered the expanded
Project inclusive of the exploitation of the Mineral Resources
associated to the La India, Mestiza, America and Central Breccia
deposits. The strategic study covers two scenarios: Scenario A, in
which the mining is undertaken from four open pits, termed La
India, America, Mestiza and Central Breccia Zone ("CBZ"), which
targets a plant feed rate of 1.225 million tonnes per annum
("Mtpa"); and Scenario B, where the mining is extended to include
three underground operations at La India, America and Mestiza, in
which the processing rate is increased to 1.4 Mtpa. The 2021 PEA
Scenario B presented a post-tax, post upfront capital expenditure
NPV of US$418 million, with an IRR of 54% and 12 month pay-back
period, assuming a US$1,700 per oz gold price, with average annual
production of 150,000 oz gold per annum for the initial 9 years of
gold production. The open pit mine schedules were optimised from
designed pits, bringing higher grade gold forward resulting in
average annual production of 157,000 oz gold in the first 2 years
from open pit material and underground mining funded out of
cashflow. The 2021 PEA Scenario A presented a post-tax, post
upfront capital expenditure NPV of US$302 million, with an IRR of
58% and 12 month pay-back period, assuming a US$1,700 per oz gold
price, with average annual production of approximately 120,000 oz
gold per annum for the initial 6 years of gold production.
The Mineral Resource estimate and associated
Preliminary Economic Assessment contained in the 2021 PEA are
considered a historical estimate within the meaning of NI 43-101, a
qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify such
historical estimate as current, and the Company is not treating the
historical Mineral Resource estimate and associated studies as
current, and the reader is cautioned not to rely upon this data as
such. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have
demonstrated economic viability. The Company believes that the
historical Mineral Resource estimate and Preliminary Economic
assessment is relevant to the continuing development of the La
India Project.
In August 2018, the Company
announced that the Ministry of the Environment in Nicaragua had
granted the Environmental Permit ("EP") for the development,
construction and operation of a processing plant with capacity to
process up to 2,800 tonnes per day at its wholly-owned La India
gold Project ("La India Project"). The EP is considered the master
permit for mining operations in Nicaragua. Condor has purchased a
new SAG Mill, which has mainly arrived in Nicaragua. Site clearance
and preparation is at an advanced stage.
Environmental Permits were granted
in April and May 2020 for the Mestiza and America open pits
respectively, both located close to La India. The Mestiza open pit
hosts 92 Kt at a grade of 12.1 g/t gold (36,000 oz contained gold)
in the Indicated Mineral Resource category and 341 Kt at a grade of
7.7 g/t gold (85,000 oz contained gold) in the Inferred Mineral
Resource category. The America open pit hosts 114 Kt at a grade of
8.1 g/t gold (30,000 oz) in the Indicated Mineral Resource category
and 677 Kt at a grade of 3.1 g/t gold (67,000 oz) in the Inferred
Mineral Resource category. Following the permitting of the Mestiza
and America open pits, together with the La India open pit Condor
has 1.12 M oz gold open pit Mineral Resources permitted for
extraction.
Disclaimer
Neither the contents of the
Company's website nor the contents of any website accessible from
hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is
incorporated into, or forms part of, this announcement.
Qualified Persons
The technical and scientific
information in this press release has been reviewed, verified and
approved by Andrew Cheatle, P.Geo., a director of Condor Gold plc,
and Gerald D. Crawford, P.E., the Chief Technical Officer of Condor
Gold plc, each of whom is a "qualified person" as defined by NI
43-101.
Nominated Adviser
Beaumont Cornish Limited ("Beaumont
Cornish") is the Company's Nominated Adviser and is authorised and
regulated by the FCA. Beaumont Cornish's responsibilities as the
Company's Nominated Adviser, including a responsibility to advise
and guide the Company on its responsibilities under the AIM Rules
for Companies and AIM Rules for Nominated Advisers, are owed solely
to the London Stock Exchange. Beaumont Cornish is not acting for
and will not be responsible to any other persons for providing
protections afforded to customers of Beaumont Cornish nor for
advising them in relation to the proposed arrangements described in
this announcement or any matter referred to in it.
Forward Looking Statements
All statements in this press
release, other than statements of historical fact, are
'forward-looking information' with respect to the Company within
the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements
with respect to: the issuance of the Payment Shares, including the
receipt of the approvals of AIM and the TSX; future development and
production plans, projected capital and operating costs, mine life
and production rates, metal or mineral recovery estimates, Mineral
Resource, Mineral Reserve estimates at the La India Project, the
potential to convert Mineral Resources into Mineral Reserves, the
Company's plans to sell the assets of the Company or seek
alternatives to an asset sale and the construction timeline of the
La India project upon receipt of financing. Forward-looking
information is often, but not always, identified by the use of
words such as: "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue",
"strategies", "estimate", "expect", "project", "predict",
"potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential",
"could", "might", "will" and similar expressions. Forward-looking
information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based
upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management at the
date the statements are made including, among others, assumptions
regarding: future commodity prices and royalty regimes;
availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of capital
expenditures; future currency exchange and interest rates; the
impact of increasing competition; general conditions in economic
and financial markets; availability of drilling and related
equipment; effects of regulation by governmental agencies; the
receipt of required permits; royalty rates; future tax rates;
future operating costs; availability of future sources of funding;
ability to obtain financing and assumptions underlying estimates
related to adjusted funds from operations. Many assumptions are
based on factors and events that are not within the control of the
Company and there is no assurance they will prove to be
correct.
Such forward-looking information
involves known and unknown risks, which may cause the actual
results to be materially different from any future results
expressed or implied by such forward-looking information,
including, risks related to: mineral exploration, development and
operating risks; estimation of mineralisation and resources;
environmental, health and safety regulations of the resource
industry; competitive conditions; operational risks; liquidity and
financing risks; funding risk; exploration costs; uninsurable
risks; conflicts of interest; risks of operating in Nicaragua;
government policy changes; ownership risks; permitting and
licencing risks; artisanal miners and community relations;
difficulty in enforcement of judgments; market conditions; stress
in the global economy; current global financial condition; exchange
rate and currency risks; commodity prices; reliance on key
personnel; dilution risk; payment of dividends; as well as those
factors discussed under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's
annual information form for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021
dated March 29, 2022 and available under the Company's SEDAR
profile at www.sedar.com.
Although the Company has attempted
to identify important factors that could cause actual actions,
events or results to differ materially from those described in
forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause
actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or
intended. There can be no assurance that such information will
prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could
differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The
Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new
information, future events or otherwise unless required by
law.