Monday, November 30, 2009

Repurchase of LT debt from IQ

Blaine, WA, Nov. 30 /CNW/ - Century Mining Corporation (CMM: TSX-V) announced that it has reached agreement in principle with Investissement Quebec for the repurchase of the long-term note held by Investissement Quebec. In exchange for payment of $8,750,000 in cash and the issuance of 5,000,000 common shares in the Company, Investissement Quebec has agreed to discharge the Company from all obligations under the note and to release all of its security interests in the property of the Company. Funding for the transaction will come from the debt and equity financings recently announced by the Company which are scheduled to close in early December. Also from the closing of the debt and equity financings the Company's working capital gold facility with Gerald Metals will be paid out. After the closing, the Company's only long-term debt will be the $33 million prepaid gold forward facility.

"Over the last several weeks and months, we have methodically taken the right steps towards the reopening of the Lamaque underground project. The repurchase of the note from Investissement Quebec is another major step forward in our financing and development plans" said Margaret Kent, President and CEO, Century Mining Inc.

The Company also announced the following management appointments:

Hugh W. Blakely, C.A., B.C. - is appointed to the position of Chief Financial Officer, effective November 18, 2009. Blakely was most recently Interim Chief Financial Officer of Canadian Royalties Inc. Previously, he held the position of Senior Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Heico's Canadian steel operations, operating under the name of Ivaco (formerly Ivaco Inc, a public company). During his tenure at Ivaco Inc, Mr. Blakely held a number of senior financial positions and worked in tandem with the Chief Restructuring Officer and Ivaco's financial advisors in managing the restructuring and sale of the businesses to Heico. He earned his Bachelor of Commerce from Concordia University and began his career with Coopers & Lybrand in Montreal and obtained his C.A. designation in 1974. Mr. Blakely is a solid professional with deep financial skills bringing over 30 years experience to Century.

Richard B. Meschke, J.D., M.B.A., B.A. - is promoted from Chief Financial Officer to Vice President, Legal and Corporate Development, where he will be leading the Company's major contract negotiations and growth and acquisition programs. Mr. Meschke has extensive experience completing acquisitions, optimizing operations and negotiating contracts in the mining industry. During 20 years with AMAX Inc., a major metals and energy company, and its successor, Cyprus Amax Minerals Company, Mr. Meschke held executive positions with finance, business development and operating responsibilities. His accomplishments include completion of more than $.5 billion in acquisitions and divestitures, and negotiation of long-term contracts representing in excess of $300 million in annual revenues. He also worked in the engineering and construction industry where he negotiated contracts up to $100 million in value. Mr. Meschke earned a B.A. from Wabash College, an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan and a law degree from Indiana University.

Peter A. Ball - will be joining the Company as Director, Investor Relations in early December 2009. Mr. Ball is a graduate of the Mine Engineering Program, Haileybury School of Mines and the Canadian Securities Program. Mr. Ball comes to Century with over 20 years experience in the resource industry, most recently at Hawthorne Gold Corp. and previously with El Dorado Gold Corp. He is well versed in corporate communications, public relations, engineering, business development initiatives, investor relations, marketing, finance and securities.

Margaret Kent, President and CEO of Century commented, "The Company has a very bright future, and over the coming months we plan to rebuild our corporate management and add staff to execute the Lamaque project. We are pleased to welcome Hugh and Peter to our team."

3 comments:

production05 said...

Good stuff! I was hoping for about an $11M cash payment to IQ for the settlement ($16.1M +, that is owed). This agreement includes some share dilution, but in some ways this is better. The payout value currently is $10,050,000 ($8750,000 cash + $1,300,000 value of 5,000,000 sales at $.26). As a result, the cash out the door amount is less by $2.25M than the $11.0M max I was hoping - good savings.

I have absolutely no problems with the 5,000,000 shares to IQ. I can't say this enough, they have been amazing partners throughout this difficult journey. It's good that they will now be able to share in Century's success.

Also, 2 other items will be paid down:

"Also from the closing of the debt and equity financings the Company's working capital gold facility with Gerald Metals will be paid out."

The working capital gold facility is about $2.1M and the Gerald Metals payment is about $400K. It's about $2.5M in total. However, the net cash out the door will eventually only be about $400K though. The working capital gold facility was secured by 2,000 unfinished gold ounces in inventory at Lamaque. Paying down this amount now frees up these 2,000 ounces to be sold at spot price. There will need to be a bit of cash required to finish off the ounces, otherwise we can sell them for US$1,180 per ounce (or higher, depending on the gold price). That means we will eventually receive about C$2.5M in revenues for those 2,000 ounces. Also, by paying down the credit line we also eliminate really high interest payments.

It's coming together well.

production05 said...

Oh, I think I misread this part. The working capital gold facility credit line is not being paid down. It's only the $400K previous hedging amount with Gerald Metals that will be settled. They confused me by using the term "working capital gold facility". As I mentioned in my last post, it doesn't matter either way because we have the 2,000 unfinished ounces as pledged security for the $2.1 working cap gold credit line.

"Also from the closing of the debt and equity financings the Company's working capital gold facility with Gerald Metals will be paid out."

roxy14 said...

Nice news . Looks like they
actually have a plan in place.