Earnings Labs

Vista Gold Corp. (VGZ)

Q2 2014 Earnings Call· Sat, Sep 13, 2014

$2.12

-3.64%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Vista Gold Second Quarter 2014 Financial Results and Mount Todd Project Update Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today, Friday, September 12, 2014. It is now my pleasure to introduce Vista's President and CEO, and your host, Mr. Fred Earnest. Please go ahead, Mr. Earnest.

Fred Earnest

Analyst

Thank you, Angela. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for joining Vista Gold Corp's 2014 Second Quarter Financial Results and Mount Todd Project Update Conference Call. I am pleased to be joined on this call by Jack Engele, our Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and Connie Martinez, our Director of Investor Relations. Both of them are joining me on the call this morning from our corporate office in Denver. Since our last call, we have achieved a very significant milestone with the completion of the environmental impact statement process for the Mount Todd Gold project. This means that the permitting risk at Mount Todd has now substantially reduced and the remaining permitting process is well defined. This sets Mount Todd apart from most other large undeveloped gold projects. Following months of work on water models and discussions about potential project scope, the government of the northern territory of Australia has committed non-recourse funding for the first year of a proposed multi-year program with the objective of reducing the inventory of water at the Mount Todd site through a combination of water remediation and the subsequent discharge of remediated water in accordance with the corresponding permit. We are working with the government on detailed plans and budgets at the present time. Our balance sheet is improving and our cost cutting efforts are yielding better than expected results. We remain optimistic about rising gold prices in the longer term. We continue to take steps to make the Mount Todd Gold project a shove-ready project, optimized for fast track development when the markets improve. We are also ensuring that we are well positioned to weather this current downturn. Despite recent weaknesses in the gold sector generally, we are pleased with the year-to-date performance of Vista Gold Corp., compared to the GDXJ. We are hopeful that the market is now beginning to recognize the tremendous value potential that Mount Todd offers. In the course of this call, we will be making forward-looking statements. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Vista to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Please refer to our Form 10-Q for a detailed discussion of risks and other important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in our forward-looking statements. I will now turn the time over to Jack Engele, and following his discussion of the financial results, I will provide discuss our progress of the Mount Todd Gold project.

Jack Engele

Analyst

Thank you, Fred. Good morning, everyone. I will start with balance sheet. Our cash and cash equivalents as of June 30, 2014 totaled $5.7 million. Our working capital at June 30th totaled about $14.2 million. The company continues to be debt free. In July, we agreed to extend the due date for the final $6 million payments of Invecture, the Los Cardones project in January 2015. As consideration for this extension Invecture paid us $0.5 million in cash. Turning to our statement of income and loss for the June 30, 2014, for the three-month ended June 30th, we reported a net loss of about $2.9 million or $0.04 a share. The main components of this loss includes operating expenses of $2.2 million and an unrealized mark-to-market loss of about $600,000 on our Midas shares. Our Q2 operating expenses included about $1 million of expenses incurred mainly at Mount Todd. Most of these expenses were associated with site water management and environmental monitoring. This represents about an 83% reduction from Q2 2013 costs, which included water remediation and discharge from the Batman pit and working on the pre-feasibility study. In addition, our 2014 costs include the effects of our cost cutting initiatives. Our Q2 operating expenses also included about $1.1 million for corporate G&A costs. This is down about 11% from Q2 2013. Here again, the effects of our cost cutting initiatives are evident. Looking ahead, as Fred mentioned, after a month's work, the government in the Northern Territory has committed to funding the first year of the proposed multi-year program with the objective of reducing the inventory water at the Mount Todd site. We expect, with the NT's collaboration will provide with better clarity and pt stability in terms of the programs and associated costs at Mount Todd, for which…

Fred Earnest

Analyst

Thank you, Jack, for reviewing Vista's financial results for the second quarter of 2014. The successful conclusion of the Mount Todd EIS process is a significant achievement for the Mount Todd Gold project and marks the end of the detailed process that started in 2011. Following the submission of a plan of operations and the subsequent receipt of EIS guidelines from the Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority, just to [embark] on the collection and analysis of baseline data in the project area. This was followed by the development of environmental management plans and the subsequent preparation of the environmental impact statement. The initial review process involved agency review and public consultation. Vista subsequently incorporated responses to all comments both, from the agency and the public in the preservation of the final EIS. Detailed agency and inter-agency review resulted in several requests for additional information, which were addressed to the satisfaction of the Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority. The EIS review process concluded with the publication of an assessment report, which can be found on the website of the Northern Territory Environmental Protection Authority, under the title Assessment Report 76 Mount Todd Gold Project. Two principle permits remain to be completed. The authorization required under the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act of 1999 or EPBC act from the Federal Department of the Environment and the line operating permit known as the Mine Management plan or simply the MMP from the Northern Territory Department of Mines And Energy, both of these are administrative processes not subject to public comment. Authorization under the EPBC Act is related to the Goldie and Finch, which has a well-documented breeding area to the northwest of the project in median [Berry Hills]. The Mount Todd project has been designed to minimize any potential impact to the…

Operator

Operator

(Operator Instructions). We have no question at this time. I will hand it back to Mr. Fred Earnest for closing remarks.

Fred Earnest

Analyst

Angela, thank you. I would like to just take this opportunity to thank all of you who have joined the call this morning. We are very excited about the progress that has been made recently. I would take this opportunity just to say that the Vista Gold will be attending the Denver Gold Group meetings in Denver, Colorado, next week. I will be presenting at that conference and look forward to meeting many of our shareholders and potential new shareholders at the conference. Again, thank you very much for your interest in Vista Gold and thank you for your time in participating in the call this morning. Have a great day, everyone.

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your line and have a great day.