Someone got their fingers slapped...(NEWS RELEASE TRANSMITTED BY CCNMatthews)
SearchGold Modifies Financial Statements and Clarifies its
Mining ProjectsSearchGold Modifies Financial Statements and Clarifies its Mining
Projects
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--(CCNMatthews - Jul 9, 2004) - Following a complete exam
of the Company's information disclosure by the capital market department
of the Autorite des Marches financiers (formely known as the Quebec
Securities Commission) and at their request, the Company wishes to inform
its shareholders of certain changes brought to the annual financial
statements ended August 31, 2003 and the November 30, 2003 and the
February 29, 2004 quarterly financial statements.
Also at their request, the Company wishes to clarify the advancement
stages of its mining projects and on the categorization of resources used
in previous press releases.
Modified financial statements:
Initially, expenses related to the Mandala property in Guinea and related deferred exploration expenses were transfered as capital assets, exploration expenses and revenues were reported as results. Subsequent to the end of the financial year and following recomendations from the Autorite des marches financiers, the Company reviewed the criteria whereby a corporation is considered as in operation and has established that it did not yet meet all requirements for exploitation status and judged that the development stage or more precisely high volume bulk samples is more appropriate at this point. Consequently, the operating costs related to the Mandala project, that were initially passed as expenses, are now accounted as deferred exploration expenses. The revenues from the sales of diamonds are deducted from those deferred exploration expenses.
Note 2 - Restated financial statements in the hereby mentioned modified financial statements, shows in detail the impact of the restatement on these financial statements. These modified financial statements are available on the internet at: www.sedar.com , they will also be mailed out to the shareholders at the end of July.
Bakoudou project:
The Bakoudou gold project is currently at the bankable feasibility stage and is supervised by Met-Chem Canada Inc. SearchGold will soon complete an update of its mineral resources for Bakoudou's Zone A and to do so, an infill drilling program managed by Met-Chem, is currently under way and overviewed by a Qualified geologist appointed by Met-Chem. The goal of this drilling program is to outline the deposit in order to support the evaluation and certification of resources and for mining development.
This important stage of resource evaluation will be followed by the
following reports, all included in the Feasibility Study:
/T/
- Mining development
- Geotechnical and hydrogeology
- Ore processing
- Environnement
- Infrastructures
- Evaluation of operation and capital costs
- Financial Analysis
- Residue management
/T/
According to the current schedule, the final report of the Study is
expected for December 2004.
The Company also wishes to inform that in previous press releases, the announced gold resource of 3,942,281 tons grading 6.4 g/t Au evaluated by Mr. Jacques Marchand in 1998, should have been described as " historical data " meaning that it was evaluated before the application of Norm NC 43-101 and also that the February 2003 Met-Chem report should have been described as a technico-economic study instead of a pre-feasibility study.
Also, the more recent resource calculation provided by the February
Met-Chem report is not supported by a technical report and that these
resources were evaluated from the data provided by the 1998 Marchand
report and additional subsequent exploration works.
A new resource calculation for Zone A of the Bakoudou gold structure will be provided as soon as the current 82 infill drill hole campaign is completed. The new data will be backed by a technical report fully
compliant with Norm NC 43-101.
Mandala Project
The Mandala diamond project in Guinea, West Africa continues its high
volume bulk sample campaign on the Mandala II, III and N'Keleyani deposits located on the flats of the Mandala and N'Keleyani Rivers. This phase should continue until February or March 2005, including a period of 5 to 6 weeks in September and October where the bulk samples will stop due to the rainy season. The 615,000 carats diamond resource stated by Placer Analysis Ltd for these deposits and published in previous press releases should have been described as " historical data " meaning that it was evaluated before the application of Norm NC 43-101.
The pilot plant has a maximum capacity of 500 tons/day and was built in a way that new parts can be added and integrated to it in order to increase its processing capacity. Currently the plant is being used to establish a pre-feasibility study that will evaluate the required processing capacity to reach profitability levels.
As previously announced, Mr. Peter Walker, an independant Qualified Person compliant to Norm NC 43-101, was appointed by Searchgold's management to start, in July, a full technical evaluation of the bulk sample results in order to confirm the project's profitability and to recommend specific actions to make Mandala a profitable operation. This report will account the processed gravel quantities for each sampled area to compile results.
In the same assignment, Mr. Walker will technically assess the adjacent Ouria Permit and will provide recomendations for a systematic sampling program of the gravels of the flats and terrasses of the Ouria River and its tributaries in order to evaluate the diamond resources of the Permit.
About SearchGold Resources:
SearchGold Resources is a Canadian based mining exploration company whose
primary mission is to target, explore and develop diamond and gold
deposits in Africa. In addition, SearchGold is active in Northern Quebec
where its property portfolio includes precious metals, base metals and
diamond exploration. SearchGold's project strategy maximizes its
experience and resources and supports the company's commitment to
strengthen shareholder value. Discover more about SearchGold Resources by
visiting www.searchgold.ca
Shares issued: 46,027,962
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
SearchGold Resources
Maurice Giroux
President
514-866-4224
514-866-2626 (FAX)
info@searchgold.ca
https://www.searchgold.ca