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MEDIA
NEWS RELEASES
Gold Wheaton Reports Earnings For 2009
March 11, 2010
Vancouver, British Columbia: Gold Wheaton Gold Corp., ("Gold Wheaton") (TSX: GLW) is pleased to announce the financial results of its first full year of operations for the year ended December 31, 2009 (unless otherwise indicated, all dollar amounts are expressed in United States dollars).
2009 HIGHLIGHTS
- Revenue from the sale of precious metals for the year ended December 31, 2009 of $62.6 million ($15.4 million 2008), an increase of 300% primarily as a result of higher metal deliveries from FNX Mining Company Ltd. (“FNX”)and First Uranium Corporation (“First Uranium”).
- Operating cash flow for the year ended December 31, 2009 of $23.8 million ($2.4 million 2008).
- Net income for the year ended December 31, 2009 was $2.3 million ($0.02 per share). This included adjustments for a future income tax expense of $7.3 million (primarily due to the Company’s election to change its reporting currency to USD); interest expense of $5.7 million (primarily due to note debentures issued during 2009) and foreign exchange losses of $5.7 million (primarily as a result of weakening of the US dollar against the Canadian dollar denominated long term liabilities). 2009 net income was $7.8 million higher than the net loss of $5.4 million ($0.12 per share) for the year ended December 31, 2008, mainly due to 12 months of deliveries in 2009 from both FNX and First Uranium compared to 5.5 months and 0.5 month respectively in 2008.
- For the year ended December 31, 2009, 59,827 gold equivalent ounces were delivered to the Company compared to 18,985 gold equivalent ounces in 2008, an increase of 215 %. FNX delivered approximately 38,908 gold equivalent ounces after the settlement of prior period sales, compared to 18,761 gold equivalent ounces for the year ended December 31, 2008. First Uranium delivered approximately 20,919 gold ounces for the year ended December 31, 2009, compared to 224 ounces for the year ended December 31, 2008.
- At December 31, 2009, the Company had cash and short term investments of $87.1 million and working capital of $56.9 million compared to $7.4 million and $14.5 million, respectively, on December 31, 2008.
- During the year, the Company closed a CDN$107 million debt financing. The Company issued two series of 10% Senior Secured Notes, due May 26, 2014 (the “Series 1 Notes”) and due November 26, 2009 (the “Series 2 Notes”), with a principal amount of CDN$57 million and CDN $50 million respectively. In connection with the issuance of the Series 1 Notes and Series 2 Notes, the Company issued 7,125,000 and 6,250,000 warrants respectively to the Secured Notes holders at an exercise price of CDN$5.00 per share for a period of 5 years following the closing of the offering.
- On December 8, 2009, the Company entered into an agreement with First Uranium (the “EMC Agreement”) to purchase 7% of the life-of-mine gold production from First Uranium’s Ezulwini Mine in South Africa, subject to a minimum delivery of 16,500 and 19,500 ounces of gold in 2010 and 2011 respectively. Gold Wheaton made an upfront cash payment of $50 million, with a per ounce cash payment of the lesser of $400 (subject to an inflationary adjustment) and the prevailing market price being due for gold delivered under the EMC Agreement.
- Subsequent to December 31, 2009, the Company graduated to the TSX Exchange effective February 4, 2010. Concurrently, the Company completed a 10:1 common share consolidation of the total number of issued and outstanding common shares as approved at the January 11, 2010 Special Meeting of Shareholders. As a result of the share consolidation, the Company has approximately 143,047,466 common shares outstanding. All stock options and common share purchase warrants were consolidated on the same basis as the common shares and have been re-priced accordingly.
“We performed well in 2009, despite a number of issues that had to be resolved by our gold stream partners. The impact of the Vale strike on FNX was minimized after decisive action by FNX to find alternate offtake avenues. We look forward to increased delivery of precious metals from their Levack footwall zone over 2010 and beyond. Despite the challenges faced by First Uranium, we believe that a permitting solution has been found to move Mine Waste Solutions forward.” said David Cohen, Chairman and CEO. “We have decided to defer the institution of our maiden dividend at this time until we are comfortable that the First Uranium situation has been fully resolved.”
Financial Information
For complete details of financial results, please refer to the unaudited interim consolidated financial statements and accompanying Management's Discussion and Analysis ("MD&A") for the year ended December 31, 2009. These financial statements and MD&A, and the comparative financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2009 are all available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website www.goldwheaton.com
Teleconference call details
Gold Wheaton will host a telephone conference call on Friday, March 12, 2010, at 10:00am PST (1:00pm EST) to discuss the results. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 1-800-319-4610 in Canada and the United States, or 1-604-638-5340 internationally.
The conference call will be archived for later playback until Friday, March 19, 2010 and can be accessed by dialing 604-638-9010 or 1-800-319-6413 and using the pass code 3504 followed by the number sign, #.
About the Company
Gold Wheaton is a gold company with 100% of its operating revenue from the sale of gold and precious metals produced by others. The Company is actively pursuing further growth opportunities.
The Company's shares are listed on the TSX Exchange under the symbol "GLW" with 143,047,466 shares issued and outstanding.
For further information, please contact:
Gold Wheaton Gold Corp.
Investor Relations
+1.778.373-0107 (phone)
+1.604.434 1487 (fax)
info@goldwheaton.com
The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of the content of this news release.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
Safe Harbor Statement under the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Except for the statements of historical fact contained herein, the information presented constitutes “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to those with respect to the price of gold, platinum or palladium, the timing and amount of estimated future production, costs of production, reserve determination and reserves conversion rates involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Gold Wheaton to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Such factors include, among other risks, risks related to the integration of acquisitions, risks related to international operations, risks related to joint venture operations, the actual results of current exploration activities, actual results of current reclamation activities, conclusions of economic evaluations and changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, future prices of gold or uranium, the timing and amount of estimated future production and the costs thereof; capital expenditures; the availability of any additional capital required to bring future projects into production; future prices of commodities; the failure of plant, equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; accidents; labour disputes; delays in obtaining governmental approvals, permits or financing or in the completion of development or construction activities; currency fluctuations, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled “Description of Business - Risk Factors” in Gold Wheaton’s Annual Information Form dated December 10, 2009 as filed on SEDAR. Although Gold Wheaton has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
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