Royal Nickel Announces First Quarter 2016 Results

Royal Nickel (TSX:RNC) has reported its review of activities and financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2016.
Mark Selby, president and CEO, said:

The first quarter of 2016 was a transformational quarter for RNC. With the acquisitions of the Beta Hunt gold and nickel mine in Western Australia and a 30% interest in the Reed copper mine in Manitoba, RNC is transitioning from a developer and explorer to a self-sustaining, cash flow generating, multi-asset and multi-metal producer. RNC shareholders now have exposure to cash flow from production ramping up to more than 50,000 ounces of gold annually and 8-10 million pounds each of nickel and copper production. In addition, the Beta Hunt mine’s performance continues to exceed expectations; the mining rate for the month of March alone has achieved 58% of our year-end mining rate target.

As quoted in the press release:

Q1 2016 and Recent Highlights

• Production from the Beta Hunt Mine in Western Australia during Q1 2016 (100% basis) was 5.6 thousand ounces (“koz”) of gold mined (3.4 koz of gold sold) and 0.8 kt of nickel in concentrate. The gold mining rate in March 2016 of 935 tonnes per day was ahead of expectations and represents 58% of the ramp-up target for 2016. RNC’s 2016 guidance for the mine remains unchanged; however, given the relative strength of gold prices, RNC may take advantage of the mine’s operating flexibility to look for opportunities to redeploy resources to increase gold production and reduce nickel production.

•  On February 1, 2016, RNC announced two acquisitions that will transform RNC into a cash generating low-cost nickel, copper and gold producer:

• RNC acquired a 20% interest in SLM, a private company whose main asset is the Beta Hunt nickel-gold mine in Western Australia, for cash consideration of $2.5 million. RNC increased its ownership position to 66% on March 15, 2016 in exchange for 31.9 million RNC common shares.

•  RNC also announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement dated January 30, 2016 to acquire a 100% interest in VMS by way of a plan of arrangement. The transaction was completed on April 27, 2016.

Click here for the full press release.