Gold Producer Metanor Resources Presents Opportunity in a Down Market
02:57 EST Wednesday, November 05, 2014
New York, NY / ACCESSWIRE / November 5, 2014 / Metanor Resources Inc. (TSX VENTURE:MTO) (Pink Sheets:MEAOF) (Frankfurt:M3R) is identified in a newly issued research report by Market Equities Research Group during this out of favor general market climate for gold mining equities, a time for astute investors to go bargain hunting. Metanor is extremely undervalued compared to its book value of $0.1952/share, the current share price is near $0.075/share (with 296,557,733 shares outstanding the current market capitalization is ~$22.3 million). A logical initial share price target for MTO.V stock is $0.20/share (its current book value), Metanor is currently trading at less than half its current book value and this is after it wrote-down ~$10 million of assets last year. As gold retrenches, and strengthens, MTO.V harbors potential to leverage to a multiple of book value and a multiple of earnings. MTO.V is currently trading at a fraction (near 1/4) of its infrastructure (replacement) value alone, ignoring the ~1.6 million oz global gold resource in all categories (on all properties), and ignoring the large resource growth potential. MTO.V also offers a significant latent tax savings windfall value for a future acquirer with a loss-carry-forward on the books of ~$40 million, the impact could generate $12 million - $15 million in tax credits.
The full research report may be found at https://sectornewswire.com/Report-MTO-11-2014.pdf online.
Metanor Resources Inc. is a Canadian gold producer that commenced commercial gold production on December 1, 2013 at its 100% owned flagship Bachelor mill and mine located along the prolific Abitibi Greenstone belt in mining-friendly Quebec. The mill currently operates at ~700 TPD yielding >50,000 oz gold per annum. Bachelor is a rich underground mine with grades upwards of 26 g/t gold with an average grade of 7.38 g/t gold (fully diluted using long hole). The Bachelor mill is uniquely positioned sitting geographically as the only mill located within 200 km in a gold rich district.
Operationally sound gold producer -- 'We estimate Metanor operated at approx. $13 million EBITDA for the full year':
Analysis of Metanor's latest year-end financials, ending June 30, 2014 (released October 27, 2014), reveals an operationally sound gold producer hitting its stride. Metanor commenced official commercial gold production status on December 1, 2013 -- accounting principles mandate the financials reflect revenues for only the months of production since attaining designated 'producer' status, thus only 7 months of operations are reflected yet it must (harshly so) account for one full-years burden of admin expenses with no revenue against it (the 5 months of revenue and costs (to operate) for the period prior to producer status are capitalized to plant & equipment on the balance sheet). Extrapolating the numbers, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation (& depletion), and amortization (EBITDA) -- it appears Metanor operated at ~$13 million EBITDA for the full year (using basic extrapolated data and assumptions, i.e. amortization at $1.21 million per month, ~$23.5M revenue and $19M costs to operate for the 5 months prior (source: note 7 page 28 of the financials), etc…). Even more impressive is the last quarter (Q4 2014 (April, May, June)) we estimate Metanor yielded ~$4.5 million EBITDA in that quarter alone. On a straight accounting basis, key highlights of that last quarter’s financials reflect the most current operational performance metrics of Metanor:
- Gold sales of 12,468 ounces on gold production of 13,083 ounces.
- Net Income of $ 1,078,441 for the quarter.
- Milled 61,905 tonnes of ore at a feed grade of 6.8 g/T and a recovery of 96.9%.
- Cash Cost of $873 per ounce sold in Q4 (US$786/oz at an exchange rate of US$0.90/CA$1.00).
- Sustaining cost of CND$1,051 per ounce sold (US$946/oz using an exchange rate of US$0.90/CND$1.00).
- All-In cost of $1,123 per ounce sold in Q4 (US$ 1,010/oz at an exchange rate of US$0.90/CA$1.00).
De-risked: Metanor's operations have had site visits from qualified analysts this year and received accolades from several noteworthy seasoned mining experts, all have noted the Metanor management team as having "substantially de-risked the project through performance in production" (source 1, source 2) - Metanor's latest financials affirm their analysis.
Note on all-in-sustaining-costs (AISC) and use of funds: For comparison, some of the latest published figures on worldwide average AISC across the spectrum of gold producers globally is US$1,018/oz, this places Metanor (at $1,010/oz) smack in the middle of the pack. On a cash flow basis Metanor is steady-flat (averaging $5 - 6 million cash and gold on hand) as its highest and best use of excess funds to date has been to reinvest capital into growing the resource -- the Company is still drilling and watching its cash, it has indicated it intends to drill 65,000 meters (definition and exploration at Bachelor) for the 2014-2015 year. Metanor has the option to hold-back on drilling to adjust for critical moves in the underlying commodity if need be, it has an ample buffer to react accordingly. Debt-wise to the province of Quebec, as of November 2014, Metanor only has four monthly payments of $466,666 left plus a final payment in March of $200K. This will leave Metanor with only one ~$10 million convertible debenture outstanding. Clearly Metanor is currently sitting relatively well in a tough market.
A 30% increase in the price of physical Gold could easily translate to a 200+% increase in the share price of MTO.V. Symptomatic of the out of favor general market climate for gold mining equities, MTO.V is essentially trading at liquidation value, despite being well run. When sector rotation does occur, first movers positioned in MTO.V appear poised to be richly rewarded. Production metrics aside, the Company also has large upside catalyst potential on the horizon from 1) exploration upside, 2) potential acquisition/strategic moves, 3) second mining operation.
The full research report may be found at https://sectornewswire.com/Report-MTO-11-2014.pdf online.
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Contact information:
Simon Levinson
Market Equities Research Group
s.levinson@marketequitiesresearch.com
SOURCE: Metanor Resources Inc.