Laramide Resources Ltd.
COMPANY DATA | INTRODUCTION | PROJECT IN HAND | MANAGEMENT
NEWS UPDATE | CHINESE
| Address: | The Exchange Tower 130 King Street West, Suite 3680 P.O. Box 99 Toronto, Ontario Canada M5X 1B1 |
| Tel No.: | (416) 599-7363 |
| Fax No.: | (416) 599-4959 |
| Web Site: | www.laramide.com |
| Corporate Email: | info@laramide.com |
| Contact Person: | Sarah Vaughan-Jackson |
| Position: | Communications Manager |
| Traded Market: | TSX-V |
| Traded Symbol: | LAM |
| Outstanding Shares: | 49,754,515 |
| 52 Week High: | $ 8.50 |
| 52 Week Low: | $ 1.33 |
| Present Price: | Click Here |
Laramide Resources Ltd. is a Toronto-based resource company specializing in the acquisition and development of mining projects globally.
With the recent improvement in the Uranium price, from US$8.00 in 2003 to currently more than US$36.00 per pound, Laramide has acquired an impressive list of known Uranium assets with drilled out resources. Currently Laramide has approximately 60 million pounds of U3O8. It also has some very exciting exploration projects, located both within the USA and Australia with potential to double these known resources.
The Company's current main focus is the advancement of its Westmoreland Copper/Gold/Uranium Project in Queensland, Australia, which is expected to become Laramide's flagship asset. Westmoreland has a large existing inferred resource which ranks it as the 7th largest known uranium deposit in Australia.
With the recent raising of CAD$14.0 million Laramide has a strong balance sheet. It is therefore well positioned to move forward and move its projects towards permitting and production decisions.
PROJECT IN HAND
Australia Project
Westmoreland Copper/Gold/Uranium Project, Queensland, Australia
Westmoreland is a major copper gold uranium mineralized system located in Queensland, Australia. It was discovered by Mount Isa Mines in 1956 and has had a long history of exploration. Most recently it was held by Rio Tinto Exploration from 1990 until 1998 and then by Tackle Resources a private company of Australia. Laramide now owns 100% of the Westmoreland Project (131,000 hectares) through its acquisition of Tackle Resources, completed in August of 2005.
Rio Tinto completed a pre-feasibility study which included infill drilling, detailed metallurgical test work and resource calculations. This work was focused on three deposits Redtree, Huarabagoo and Junnagunna. There are further 39 uranium occurrences throughout the project area. This work completed by Rio Tinto, showed that the uranium mineralization was readily amenable to acid leaching and had low acid consumption with high uranium recoveries. Hence the project has potentially robust economics.
Following the drilling, Rio Tinto completed a detailed resource calculation. Westmoreland has a large existing inferred resource of 17.4M tons @ 1.2 kg/ton U3O8 (46 million pounds of U3O8). This resource calculation was based on work completed prior to the implementation of National Instrument 43-101, and is therefore not currently 43-101 compliant.
Joint Venture Projects, Northern Territory, Australia
Laramide has recently signed two joint ventures with Arafura Resources, ASX - ARU, a publicly listed Australian company and Hartz Range Mines, a private Australian company, on projects which fall adjacent to the Westmoreland
Project, however both are located within the Northern Territory. Laramide now has in excess of 680,000 hectares of highly prospective tenements located in the Northern Territory and Queensland.
USA Project
La Sal & La Jara Mesa Projects
As an expansion to its uranium portfolio, Laramide has purchased four advanced Uranium projects (the La Sal, La Jara Mesa, Los Ochos and Melrich properties) located in the USA, from Homestake Mining, a subsidiary of Barrick Gold Corporation. The two most important of these projects are the La Sal Project, containing approximately 2.7 million pounds of U3O8 located in Utah, and the La Jara Mesa Project which contains 8 million pounds of U3O8 located in the Grants mining district of New Mexico. Laramide plans to advance both the La Sal and La Jara Mesa Projects towards permitting and a production decision as quickly as possible.
Canada Project
Goliath Project, Dryden, Ontario
Laramide holds the ground adjacent to and down dip of Corona Gold Corporation's Thunder Lake Gold discovery which is located just east of Dryden, Ontario. To date, Corona has defined a resource of approximately 630,000 ounces of gold at a grade of 6.5 g/t Au. The target at Goliath is a high grade steeply plunging shoot(s) of gold mineralization similar to Goldcorp's Red Lake Mine, which is located some 150 km to the north.
Lara Project, Vancouver Island, BC
The Lara Project is a high-grade volcanogenic gold and base metal deposit. The current drill-indicated resource is 580,000 tonnes grading 4.3 g/t Gold, 1% Copper, 5.9% Zinc, 1.2% Lead and 90 g/t Silver. (Nucanolan Resources Ltd. 1998 report). There is strong potential to increase this resource. A small high grade mining project here could produce significant cash flow for Laramide Resources.
Investments
Aquiline Resources Inc.
Laramide owns approximately 1,000,000 shares of Aquiline Resources Inc., a company listed on the TSX, traded under the symbol AQI. Aquiline's main asset is the Calcatreu Gold & Silver Project in Argentina, which has a resource of approximately 730,000 ounces of gold and 6.6 million ounces of silver. The project is in the feasibility study stage.
Alliance Pacific Resources Inc.
Laramide is a major share holder in Alliance Pacific Resources Inc. ("APR") holding over 2,000,000 shares. APR is a private, Toronto based company whose principal asset is the right to explore and develop a large 4,500 sq.km land package in Xingjiang Province, Western China, which contains three known gold deposits.
Cerro Colorado Project, Sonora, Mexico
Laramide currently receives a 2.5% NSR royalty from the Cerro Colorado Project located in northern Sonora, Mexico, which is currently being purchased by Sierra Minerals Inc., a TSX Venture company (SIM). Cerro Colorado is currently producing approximately 18,000 ounces of gold per year, but the project is undercapitalized, a situation that is expected to be remedied by the Sierra transaction. Target production rates are on the order of 30,000 ounces per year. Cerro Colorado has a resource of 4.3 million tons @ 1.36 g/t Au. This is not 43-101 compliant.
MANAGEMENT
Laramide Resources Ltd. has a well management team with experience in different areas.
Marc Henderson, President & Director
Mr. Henderson has an economics degree from University of Colorado and is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). He has more than 20 years experience of running junior mining companies. Mr. Henderson has been president of a number of public companies including MineFinders from 1987 until 1994 and Republic Goldfields Inc., listed on the American Exchange, from 1988 to 1994. While at MineFinders he was responsible for acquiring the Dolores property, which contains in excess of 2.0 million ounces of gold and 160 million ounces of silver. He is currently also president of Aquiline Resources. Mr. Henderson has been President of Aquiline and Laramide since 1995.
Peter Mullens, VP Exploration & Director
Mr. Mullens has a B.Sc. majoring in Geology from Monash University in Australia. He has worked in the industry for 18 years in a number of different roles. His work has included 6 years as a mine geologist for Rio Tinto and Mount Isa Mines at Broken Hill and Mount Isa in Australia. In addition his career has included work in a number of South and Central American countries and in Asia.
Mr. Mullens was District Manager Argentina then Central America for Mount Isa Mines from 1994 to 1997. He followed this with a six month consultancy job in China. For the past five years Mr. Mullens has worked as an independent consultant geologist based out of Lima, Peru.
He is a member of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy.
Mr. Mullens has recently taken up the position as VP Exploration and brings considerable exploration and mining experience to Laramide, including experience of operating in China.
John Booth, Director
Mr. Booth is a partner with JAS Financial Products, a conservation hedge fund in London, UK as well as Chairman and CEO of BuyFX Ltd., an online Foreign Exchange matching service based in Bermuda. A lawyer by training, Mr. Booth articled in Toronto in 1989 before joining Merrill Lynch International in London. He spent 8 years in the international capital markets before joining BuyFX in 1998. He serves on the board of H2O Innovation, another TSX listed company, is affiliated with Federal City Capital Advisors, an M&A advisory firm based in Washington DC and is co-founder of Origin Strategy Inc., an intellectual property consulting firm. Mr. Booth resides in London, UK.
Scott Patterson, Director
Mr. Patterson joined First Service Corporation in February 1995 and was Chief Financial Officer until September 2002 when he was appointed to his current position of Executive Vice President, in which he has senior management responsibility for the company's Business Services and Commercial Real Estate Services segments. From May 1993 to January 1995, Mr. Patterson was an investment banker at Loewen, Ondaatje, McCutcheon Ltd., and prior to that, beginning in 1987, he was an investment banker at Bankers Trust. Mr. Patterson is a Chartered Accountant and was employed at Price Waterhouse from 1983 to 1987. Mr. Patterson joined the Board of Laramide in 1995.
Chris Irwin, Company Secretary
Mr. Irwin is a lawyer based in Toronto. He currently works for Power Budd LLP, a subsidiary of Cameron McKenna.
Sarah Vaughan-Jackson, Communications Manager
Ms. Vaughan-Jackson has over 12 years of business training and operations experience, and has been involved with client relationships at various companies for the past five years.
Advisory Board
Mr. Michael Connor
Mr. John Cook
Mr. Mark Chalmers
Mr. Mersch Ward
NEWS UPDATE
On March 01, 2007 Laramide Resources Ltd. has released the results from its recently completed drilling program on the Lagoon Creek project, located 200 kilometres east of Booroloola, Northern Territory, Australia. The project is in joint venture with Arafura Resources, an Australian publicly listed company trading on Australian Stock Exchange. Laramide can earn 60% of the project by spending $5.5 million ( Australian ) over five years.
On January 2, 2007, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has closed the CDN$21-millin bought deal offering on Dec. 29, 2006. The syndicate for the offering was led by Haywood Securities Inc. and including GMP Securities L.P., Sprott Securities Inc. and Westwind Partners Inc. Net proceeds of the offering will be used to finance the exploration and development of Laramide's Westmoreland project in Australia, and for working capital and general corporate purposes.
On December 28, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has acquired a portfolio of uranium royalties in the Grant's mineral district of New Mexico from United Nuclear Corp. for US$9.2-million in cash. The royalty portfolio covers three separate parcels of mineral leases (Section 8, Section 17 and Mancos) in the Churchrock area of McKinley county. The properties are presently owned by a subsidiary of Uranium Resources Inc., a U.S. publicly traded uranium producer, which acquired them from United Nuclear in a series of transaction between 1986 and 1991.
On December 13, 2006 Laramide Resources Ltd. has entered into an agreement for a bought deal private placement financing with a syndicate of underwriters led by Haywood Securities Inc. and including GMP Securities LP, Sprott Securities Inc. and Westwind Partners Inc. as contemplated by the agreement Laramide will issue 2.3 million units at $7.50 per unit to raise gross proceeds of $17.25 million. The offering is scheduled to close on or before Decemebr 29, 2006, and is subject to certain conditions including, but not limited to, the receipt of all necessary regulatory approvals including the approval of the Toronto Stock Exchange.
On October 30, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has commenced drilling at the Lagoon Creek project in the Northern Territory of Australia. A drilling program of approximately 3,000 metres is planned over the coming month, representing the initial phase of drilling under its joint venture agreement with Arafura Resources NL.
On October 23, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has completed an independent NI 43-101 technical report that addresses uranium mineral resources for its wholly owned Westmoreland uranium project located in Queensland, Australia. The mineral resources report estimates indicated mineral resources at Westmoreland totalling 15.6 million pounds of uranium (U3O8), at an average grade of 0.088% U3O8, and an inferred mineral resources of 32.9 million pounds of uranium (U3O8), at an average grade of 0.093% U3O8.
On October 17, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has appointed William Smith and Evan Hughes to its management team. Mr. Smith as Vice President of corporate development and Mr. Hughes is the new General Manager for the Company's Australian operations with both gentlemen based in the Company's Brisbane, Australia, office where the Company's wholly owned Lagoon Creek Resources Pty. subsidiary is headquartered.
Laramide also recently received 6,628,527 shares of Sierra Minerals Inc. and now owns approximately 9% of Sierra which listed on the TSX on Sept. 26, 2006.
On October 6, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has completed an independent NI 43-101 technical report that addresses uranium mineral resources for its La Jara Mesa uranium property located in the Grant's mineral district of New Mexico. The mineral resource report estimates measured and indicated mineral resources totalling 7,257,817 pounds of uranium (U3O8) at an average grade of 0.23% U3O8, and an additional 3,172,653 pounds of uranium at an average grade of 0.20% U3O8 as inferred mineral resources on the property. Laramide is now in receipt of all necessary permits for a 3,000-metre drill program which will commence later in October.
On August 31, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. reported its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2006. As at June 30, 2006, the Company has $11,992,750 of working capital, no debt, significant investment holdings and is in the best financial position in company history. Laramide believed its business plan is fully financed through 2007. Working capital as at June 30, 2006, has increased by $1,127,946 over the working capital of $10,864,804 as at Dec. 31, 2005.
The loss for the quarter ending June 30, 2006, was $310,087 on revenues of $258,555, compared with a loss of $183,289 on revenues of $84,607 for the same period in the previous year. Revenues were higher in 2006 due to greater royalty income from the Cerro Colorado gold operation in Sonora, Mexico, and expanded interest income on larger cash balances. Administrative costs increased by $300,746 over the same period past year reflecting the Company's ramp-up of activity in Australia as the Company put in place its management team and opened an Australian corporate office in Brisbane.
On August 21, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has entered into a joint venture agreement with Power Reserves Group LLC, a private U.S. based uranium company, to explore for roll-front-style uranium deposits in the Western United States. The initial area targeted by the new joint venture, which will be known as the Sioux uranium project, is located in a well-known Western U.S. basin that hosts other identified uranium deposits.
On August 4, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it will be removed from the S&P/TSX Venture Composite Index. The Company will graduate to trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the same ticker symbol.
On May 18, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has concluded the transaction set out in the Company's news release of January 13, 2006 whereby Laramide agreed to become the cornerstone investor in a new Australian uranium company called Uranium Equities Limited ("UEL"). UEL was created by renaming an existing publicly listed Australian company called Bullion Minerals Ltd. whose gold and other assets were spun off to Bullion shareholders and renamed Chalice Gold Mines Limited.
On April 18, 2006, Laramide Resources Ltd. announced that it has appointed Mr. Dennis Gibson as Chief Financial Officer for the Company. Mr. Gibson holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University, is a Certified General Accountant and has held various senior financial positions for the past twenty-five years.
Laramide also announced that it has completed its previously announced data license agreement ("DLA") with Rio Tinto Exploration Pty Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of Rio Tinto Ltd. (see press release of March 1, 2006).
In further news, since January 1, 2006, Laramide has received in excess of CDN $4 million, due to the exercise of common share purchase warrants and employee options, and has issued 1,109,700 common shares as a result of these exercises. The Company now has in excess of CDN$15 million in cash and liquid investments and is well funded for its upcoming 2006 exploration campaign in Australia, which will commence shortly following the conclusion of the wet season in Northern Australia.