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Amur Minerals, Aureus Mining news briefs

Contributed by Fox-Davies Capital

Amur Minerals has announced that the draft Development of the Russian Far East ("DRFE") programme submitted to the Federal authorities has been preliminarily accepted at the Federal level in Moscow, Russia.

- A meeting has been scheduled for 21 March 2013 to review and consider the draft proposal
- An 11.0 trillion Rouble (approximately US$35M) development plan has been preliminarily approved for the development of the Far East District.
- The mining industry is an integral part of the programme and the Company's Kun-Manie project has been included as a part of the long term development plan by the officials of Amur Oblast, a part of the Far East District.

FD Comment:
The Company announced on the 25th February that it had submitted information on the Company's Kun-Manie project and associated preliminary development plan to the Ministry of Natural Resources of Amur Oblast in Blagoveshchensk, Amur Oblast for inclusion in the DRFE. This was good news for the Company as it could receive funds to help develop the project. Our only concern was the timeframe for approval. However, the process appears to be progressing well as we were only expecting the plan to be submitted to Moscow in the next month or so, so having being preliminarily accepted is a huge plus, although there may still be substantial changes to the programme and funding after additional input from other key agencies.

Aureus Mining has released its FY'12 financial results and announced a new debt funding facilty for New Liberty.

In this News:

Debt Financing

- Nedbank Capital and Rand Merchant Bank have been mandated to arrange a Project Debt Finance Facility for New Liberty
- US$108M Project Debt Facilities with overall cost of funding of circa 5% p.a.
- No gold hedging contemplated
- Credit approval expected in Q2 2013.

Financial Highlights

- Cash and cash equivalents of US$ 79.4M
- Total assets of US$153.1M
- Loss for the year of US$5.8M
- US$80M equity issue in November2012 to fund New Liberty.

New Liberty Project Highlights

- Feasibility study with NPV of US$ 234M and IRR of 37% at an average gold price of US$1,400/oz
- NI 43-101 compliant proven and probable reserve estimate of 910,000 ounces (8.7M tonnes grading 3.3g/t)
- New Liberty to be the first commercial gold mine in Liberia producing +120,000oz per annum at 3.7g/t for the first five years. First gold pour scheduled for Q4 2014
- All key permits in place following receipt of environmental permit in October 2012
- Construction phase commenced in Q4 2012 with early earthworks.

FD Comment:
The financial results are unsurprising. The key driver today will be the announcement of the debt mandate for Nedbank and RMB of US$100M with US$8M contingency. The debt still needs to be approved by the banks credit committees and this will be after the updated feasibility study expected in 2Q'13 with first drawdown in 4Q'13 with the Company aiming for the first gold pour in 4Q'14.