Amaroq spends $875,213 on exploration in Q1 2024

Mining
Tuesday, May 14th, 2024 2:04 pm EDT

Q1 2024 FINANCIAL RESULTS

Amaroq Minerals Ltd. has released its Q1 2024 financials. A conference call for analysts and investors will be held today at 4 p.m. BST (3 p.m. GMT, 11 a.m. EST), details of which can be found farther down in this announcement. All dollar amounts are expressed in Canadian dollars unless otherwise noted.

Eldur Olafsson, CEO of Amaroq, commented:

“During the quarter we successfully completed a fundraise to accelerate mining at Nalunaq, whilst continuing to invest in our wider gold and strategic minerals portfolio in South Greenland. I would like to thank all participating shareholders for their strong support shown in this financing.

“I have been on site at Nalunaq now for some weeks, participating across all workstreams, and am highly encouraged by how operations are progressing. It has been excellent to be working alongside around 80 people from the Amaroq mining, engineering and site teams, in addition to our contractors Thyssen Schachtbau, Halyard, HK Transport, Scott Steel and Arctic Unlimited. With our new General Manager Jaco Duvenhage hired to oversee all operations at Nalunaq, we are seeing good progress on all fronts, and I would like to thank the team for their hard work. The experience gained this winter, in our first year of year-round operations, has been invaluable to improving our understanding and planning for developing future projects in South Greenland. Construction works over this period were completed despite pack ice conditions, thanks to the foresight of the team who ensured that all the required equipment was mobilised to site ahead of time. In addition, at the end of March, the successful first underground mining blast at Nalunaq was initiated at the 720m level, which was a key milestone.

“I look forward to providing the market with a more complete update on Nalunaq operations at our Capital Markets event on 13 June, where we will present visuals of the progress made to date and providing guidance on the cost to complete as well as the expected date of first gold production. In addition, we will present our plan for resource growth at Nalunaq, along with details of our expanded drilling programme at the Stendalen copper-nickel discovery.

“Finally, progress on new growth opportunities within South Greenland, including Strategic Minerals, Hydro and Servicing are progressing well and we look forward to providing an update to the market in due course, during or before the Capital Markets Day.”

Q1 2024 Corporate Highlights

• Amaroq group liquidity of $96.31 million consisting of cash balances, undrawn revolving credit facilities, undrawn revolving credit overrun facility less trade payables ($52.42 million as at December 31, 2023).
• Gold business working capital of $78.2 million that includes prepaid contractors on the Nalunaq project of $17.47 million as of March 31, 2024 ($37.6 million as at December 31, 2023 including prepaid contractors on the Nalunaq project of $18.68 million).
• The Gardaq Joint Venture that comprises the Strategic Minerals business has available liquidity of $17.0 million ($18.7 million as at December 31, 2023) on a 100% basis.
• In February 2024 the Company completed a Fundraising, raising net proceeds of approximately $74.52 million, to accelerate mining of the Target Block at the Nalunaq mine to maintain the processing plant’s current nameplate capacity of 300 tonnes of ore processed per day in 2025 and for the extension of the process plant to include a flotation circuit and dry-stack tailings facility.
• The Company intends to provide an update on the Nalunaq project at a Capital Markets event to be held in Iceland on 13 June 2024.
• The Company increased the amount placed in escrow from $0.68 million as at December 31, 2023 to $5.70 million as at March 31, 2024 as a pre-requisite for mining and construction permits.
• Post-period, Jaco Duvenhage was appointed as Nalunaq General Manager to oversee the operation.

Q1 2024 Operational Highlights

• Permitting: The public consultation for the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) for Nalunaq closed on 1st March 2024.
• Contracting and Procurement: After the re-scoping of the work, 81% of the key contracts for the processing plant were concluded and procurement was 81% complete at the end of Q1. The last major contract for structural, mechanical, piping and processing plant equipment installation was awarded to Scott Steel Erectors in early April.
• Engineering: Process plant detailed design and engineering was 86% complete at the end of Q1 based on the updated project scope.
• Construction: Processing plant pad construction is 95% complete, Precast foundations received and on site, foundation excavations completed, all plinths installed up to crusher area. Erection of processing plant steel structure is in progress. Overall processing plant construction is 24% complete.
• Mining: Mine rehabilitation was completed in mid-March, and the successful first underground blast at Nalunaq was initiated on March 30, 2024. Development work continues, with Rehabilitation of 570L access commenced to establish underground diamond drill location for drilling-off the Target Block extension. Mine equipment, including the second development drill and two ST-7 scoops, are on route to Greenland and awaiting delivery to site as per schedule.
• Exploration: The Company has been busy finalising interpretation and preparing for a busy 2024 field season to include a targeted Mineral Resource growth plans at Nalunaq and Copper-Nickel-Cobalt drilling at Stendalen among other project development programmes.

Nalunaq Project KPIs

• 60,372 total hours worked during Q1 2024;
• Daily average of 55 people working on site at Nalunaq in Q1 2024;
• Zero Lost Time Injuries in Q1 2024;
• Ratio of Greenlandic personnel at Nalunaq standing at 53% in Q1 2024.

Outlook

• Following the announcement that Jaco Crouse would step down as Chief Financial Officer and as a Director of the Company with effect from 3 June 2024, the recruitment process to appoint a new CFO is well advanced. The Company will update the market in due course.
• All engineering for the process plant will be completed during quarter two and the procurement packages will be issued to the market for these.
• Post period, activities at Nalunaq continue to progress well, with 80 people now present on site. Construction of the processing plant structure is underway and expected to complete in June 2024. Management intends to provide a further update on the Nalunaq Project at a Capital Markets Day in Iceland, to take place on 13 June 2024.

Exploration activities overview

Gold projects:

• Nalunaq:
  • Additional 75 vein intersections from historical core drilling have been selected using core photography and will be assessed and sampled during Q2 2024.
  • A Resource development exploration programme has been developed to work alongside continued underground rehabilitation and development activities.
• Nanoq:
  • Further desk-based modelling from the ALS Goldspot interpretation has allowed the Company to produce detailed resource drilling plans that can be progressed in 2024/25.
• Vagar Ridge:
  • The Corporation has progressed with the construction of a robust geological and mineralization model to inform future exploration at Vagar as well as designing future exploration options.

Strategic Minerals:

• Sava Copper Belt (Sava/North Sava):
  • Amaroq has continued to assess the results from the 2023 field season alongside recognised subject matter experts in porphyry mineralisation as the Company develops its 2024 exploration programmes.
• Stendalen:
  • Geophysical data reviewed points to the likely feeder zone and other sulphide accumulation areas. 2024 exploration drilling plans have been developed.
• Kobberminebugt:
  • High resolution geophysical data (MT) has been received and inverted for the Kobberminebugt licence and is currently being reviewed ahead of the development of a 2024 field programme.
• Nunarsuit:
  • High resolution geophysical data (Magnetics, Gravity and Radiometics) has been received for the western sections of the licence and is currently being reviewed ahead of the development of a 2024 field programme.
• Regional Exploration:
  • The Company has continued its desk based regional exploration programmes developing further targets to be assessed as part of the 2024 field programmes.

Details of conference call

A conference call for analysts and investors will be held today at 16:00 BST (15:00 GMT, 11:00 EST), including a management presentation and Q&A session.

To join the meeting, please register on-line.

Notice of Iceland Capital Markets Day

The Company intends to hold a Capital Markets Day in Iceland on 13 June 2024, during which Management will provide an update on the Nalunaq Project.

Details of registration and remote access will be provided in advance of the session.

Amaroq Financial Results

The following selected financial data is extracted from the Financial Statements for the three months ended March 31, 2024.

About Amaroq Minerals

Amaroq Minerals’ principal business objectives are the identification, acquisition, exploration, and development of gold and strategic metal properties in Greenland. The Company’s principal asset is a 100% interest in the Nalunaq Project, a development stage property with an exploitation license including the previously operating Nalunaq gold mine. The Corporation has a portfolio of gold and strategic metal assets in Southern Greenland covering the two known gold belts in the region. Amaroq Minerals is incorporated under the Canada Business Corporations Act and wholly owns Nalunaq A/S, incorporated under the Greenland Public Companies Act.

Qualified Person Statement

The technical information presented in this press release has been approved by James Gilbertson CGeol, VP Exploration for Amaroq Minerals and a Chartered Geologist with the Geological Society of London, and as such a Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101.

We seek Safe Harbor.