"While our plan for Ezulwini is ambitious and challenging, we also believe that it is realistic and achievable, and it will remain top priority for the company," said Van der Mescht. The company's current operations and capital programme would be funded with a combination of operating cash flow and cash reserves.
Uranium- and gold-miner First Uranium on Friday reported first-quarter profit of $6,8-million, compared with a loss of $3,9-million for the comparable period last year.
The TSX- and JSE-listed company, which owns mines in South Africa, said that the
Raymond Mills turnaround was primarily owing to additional profits generated from its second gold module at its Mine Waste Solution (MWS) operation, together with reduced losses at Ezulwini mine, resulting from improved gold production during the ramp-up phase.
First Uranium ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $102,6-million, up from $10,2-million at the end of the March quarter. The increase resulted from the company's recapitalisation initiative, concluded during the reporting quarter.
The initiative saw a total of $141,5-million of cash
Sand Making Machines raised through an offering of secured convertible notes due March 31, 2013.
First Uranium also settled its $22,6-million outstanding facility with SimmerJack Mines, and settled the completion penalty obligation to GW pursuant to the MWS gold stream transaction by issuing shares worth $18,2- million to GW and a commitment to complete construction of the third gold plant module at MWS.
Going forward, the miner's new management team and board appointed during the quarter, would implement a low-cost growth strategy, to increase profitably and expand output at both the company's operations.
The new strategy was focused on preserving First Uranium's cash reserves, while enabling the company to execute on its capital programme. At MWS, management anticipated that the remaining capital programme, that included the third gold plant module and new tailings storage facility plus adjoining infrastructure, would be concluded by May.
The company said that certain construction contracts had been restructured to fixed-price
Quarry Crushers contracts with fixed timelines to manage project costs and schedules.
"The aim of our growth plan at MWS is to continue profitable growth while reducing peak funding requirements, and to meet the GW completion tests without compromising project sustainability or efficiency," said First Uranium president and CEO Deon van der Mescht.
Meanwhile, First Uranium had also completed a new ramp-up plan
Vertical Roller Mills for its Ezulwini mine. The programme called for incremental production build-up of about 320 oz of gold a month until the end of 2013, requiring development of an additional three panels being made available every month.
The company said that it expected the Ezulwini operation to turn cash flow positive after the completion of capital expenditures in the fourth quarter of 2011.
Van der Mescht said that First Uranium was focused on its goal of becoming a significant low-cost
Portable Crushers of uranium and gold through the expansion of the underground development to feed the new uranium and gold plants at its Ezulwini mine and through the expansion of the plant capacity of the MWS tailings recovery facility.
