Interim Results

Glencar Mining PLC 31 October 2002 GLENCAR MINING PLC Interim Results for the Six Months Ended 30 June, 2002 Dear Shareholder, The sale of the Wassa project was finally completed on September 13, 2002. It has taken significantly longer than originally forecast which has in turn delayed progress in the redevelopment of Glencar to secure a positive and viable future for the Company. The successful sale of Wassa was a precondition to the release by the lenders of the parent company guarantee given by Glencar on the Wassa financing. Four of the five lenders to the project have now agreed to the release of the guarantee and the waiver of all associated obligations of Glencar to the lenders. The fifth lender, CDC Capital Partners, is considering a proposal put by the Company and we expect their response shortly. In addition, Standard Bank London Limited has agreed to convert its convertible loan note into ordinary shares in Glencar, subject to the consent of CDC to the release of Glencar from all of its obligations under the Wassa financing. Should CDC accept the terms of the proposal currently before it, Glencar will then be debt free and in a position to advance its redevelopment strategy. This strategy is designed to capitalize on the experience gained in the discovery and development of gold deposits in Africa, and Ghana in particular. In the eighteen years or so we have been operating in Africa, we have discovered two significant commercial gold deposits in Ghana, an achievement not shared by many other junior exploration companies in West Africa. Teberebie was an open pit heap leach mine, producing at the rate of approximately 250,000 ounces of gold per annum. We discovered Teberebie in 1986 and it came to production in 1990. We sold our interest in the project to our partners, The Pioneer Group Inc. of Boston in 1989. In early 1994, we discovered the Wassa property. Over the succeeding four years, we explored and developed the deposit, bringing it to production, on schedule and on budget in January 1999. The gold price collapse of 1998 to 2002, together with problematic metallurgical recovery issues forced us to put the project up for sale resulting in its recent purchase by Golden Star Resources Ltd. of Denver. We intend to continue to explore for gold resources in Africa using our extensive experience there and our wide ranging database and network of contacts. Our focus initially will be on Ghana and Uganda, but we are also actively examining attractive projects in Tanzania and Mali. In recent years, worldwide exploration for gold, especially by junior companies, has fallen off dramatically because of depressed market conditions. As a consequence, the requirement of the major producers to replenish the gold reserves mined each year, is becoming more and more difficult to meet. Barrick and Newmont between them, for instance, need to discover an additional 12.8 million ounces annually in order to maintain their market rating in terms of gold reserves and resources. Barrick also projects that its annual production, currently 5.7 million ounces, will grow by 2 million ounces over the next 10 years. It is also interesting to note that one of the larger gold producers has recently stated that, in future, the gold properties that will be of interest to them will be determined by the potential profitability of the project rather than, as in the past, by the potential size of the deposit. There is, therefore a niche for a company with successful African exploration experience, such as Glencar, to explore for these new reserves in order to feed into the pipeline of new projects which can be developed by the major companies. Our initial focus will be on the Asheba project in Ghana, where we have already discovered significant gold mineralisation in previous drilling programmes. Further exploration of this mineralisation was delayed while we concentrated on the exploration and development of the Wassa Project. The Asheba concession lies in the South West of Ghana in a very favourable geological setting just 20 kilometres south of the centre of the world class Tarkwa gold producing area which has seen past production of more than 10 million ounces of gold and which hosts currently delineated reserves in excess of 25 million ounces, much of which is contained in two major deposits at Tarkwa and Teberebie. The licence area incorporates not only the old colonial working at Asheba-Cheriaman and Akoko but also significant small-scale workings at Bankarayo, Korokossah and Saghissi. Since formal production ceased at the Asheba mines in the late 1920s, near surface mineralisation has been worked more or less continuously by the local galempsey miners and particularly so in recent years. The Ugandan licences comprise a ground holding of approximately 350 square kilometres in 3 licence areas on the northern margin of the Lake Victoria greenstone belt. The belt hosts a number of major gold deposits on the southern side of the Lake in Tanzania including the Geita, Bulyunhulu, Golden Pride and Kukuluma deposits. The area has produced some of the most exciting finds in terms of gold orebodies in Africa in recent years. For example the reserves at the Bulyunhulu and Geita deposits now stand at 10 million ounces and 8 million ounces respectively. The Migori and Mara goldfields, which straddle the Kenya/ Tanzania border lie approximately 150km to the south of the licence areas on the eastern side of the lake. The company is currently in discussion with other parties on two other gold projects - one in Tanzania in East Africa and the other in Mali in West Africa. These countries represent two of the most attractive gold exploration destinations in Africa, each with a number of world class gold mines discovered and developed in recent years. Each of the projects is in a highly attractive established gold belt and each fits well into the current company development strategy. It is likely that we will seek to bring successful new projects up to, or through positive feasibility study. We intend to maintain the tradition established by Glencar over many years, whereby the exploration projects we embark upon are based on sound technical reasoning and the work carried out and results obtained are diligently evaluated before expenditures are committed to the next phase. We have a modest amount of available finance which we expect to augment in due course with a small financing. This will allow us to carry out the initial phases of the exploration programmes on the Ghanaian and Ugandan properties and to secure either or both of the Tanzanian and Malian properties. Further funding will be required as successful results are obtained from the exploration completed, but it is intended to carry out such financing in a staged way, with each financing clearly related, in timing and size, to the success of previous exploration and the requirement to advance to the next stage. Our unaudited Profit and Loss Account below shows the position as at 30 June 2002, before the sale of the Wassa Project in September. Assuming the release of all bank guarantees, the conversion of the Convertible Loan Note into shares and the disposal of Satellite Goldfields Limited, our audited accounts for the year end will show the elimination of all debt and interest payments. Despite the recent decline in the company's share price and the difficulties being experienced by all companies in the exploration sector right now, we are optimistic for the future of Glencar. We have weathered a severe storm and have emerged leaner, more experienced and with a strategy which we believe can work, even in the current very difficult investment climate. Hugh McCullough Managing Director 31 October 2002 CONSOLIDATED PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT (UNAUDITED) FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 30 JUNE 2002 Unaudited Unaudited 6 months 6 months ended ended 30-Jun-02 30-Jun-01 US$ US$ TURNOVER - GOLD SALES 1,208,374 11,349,341 COST OF SALES Operating Costs (1,751,373) (14,138,542) OPERATING LOSS (542,999) (2,789,201) EXCEPTIONAL ITEM (775,747) (159,489) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES (280,619) (431,509) OTHER INCOME 0 4,935,317 BANK INTEREST RECEIVABLE 6,873 38,628 BANK INTEREST PAYABLE (2,072,042) (1,746,831) LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES BEFORE TAXATION (3,664,534) (153,085) TAXATION 0 0 LOSS ON ORDINARY ACTIVITIES AFTER TAXATION (3,664,534) (153,085) MINORITY INTEREST 1,308,940 (392,246) LOSS FOR THE FINANCIAL PERIOD (2,355,594) (545,331) LOSS EARNINGS PER SHARE (CENTS) (2.41) (0.56) ======= ======= DILUTED LOSS PER SHARE (CENTS) (2.41) (0.56) ======= ======= The accounting policies applied in the preparation of the interim results are consistent with those used in the preparation of the statutory accounts for the year ended 31 December 2001. A dividend is not proposed for this period (nil: 30/06/2001). These results will be posted on the company's website. Copies of this interim report will be available from the Company's registered office at 71, Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2. For further information, please contact: Hugh McCullough Chief Executive Telephone +353-(0)1-661 9974 31 October, 2002 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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