VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Feb. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- New Pacific Metals Corp. (“New Pacific” or the “Company”) (TSXV:NUAG) today announced its unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial results for the three and six months ended December 31, 2017. 

This earnings release should be read in conjunction with the Company's Management Discussion & Analysis, Financial Statements and Notes to Financial Statements for the corresponding period, which have been posted on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and are also available on the Company's website at www.newpacificmetals.com.  All figures are expressed in Canadian Dollars (CAD) unless otherwise stated.

Q2 FISCAL 2018 HIGHLIGHTS

• Successfully obtained the permits required for the Silver Sand property and immediately commenced a 30,000 meter exploration drilling program;
• Raised $26,980,000 through a strategic private placement with Pan American Silver Corp. and Silvercorp Metals Inc. to boost the Company’s financial position; and
• Ended the quarter with working capital of $37,531,285.

FINANCIALS

Net loss attributable to equity holders of the Company for the three months ended December 31, 2017 was $1,096,699 or $0.01 per share (three months ended December 31, 2016 - net loss of $2,228,616 or $0.03 per share).  The Company’s financial results were mainly impacted by the following: (i) income from investments of $68,533 compared to loss of $2,361,196 in the prior year; (ii) foreign exchange gain of $59,635 compared to foreign exchange gain of $449,762 in the prior year; and, (iii) operating expenses of $1,230,747 compared to $398,894 in the prior year.

For six months ended December 31, 2017, net loss attributable to equity holders of the Company was $2,647,798 or $0.02 per share compared to net income of $1,353,652 or $0.02 per share for six months ended December 31, 2016.

Income from investments for the three months ended December 31, 2017 was $68,533 (three months ended December 31, 2016 - loss of $2,361,196).  Within the income (loss) from investments, $27,057 was from a loss on the Company’s equity investments offset by gain of $92,305 from fair value change and interest earned on bonds.

For the six months ended December 31, 2017, loss from investments was $508,411 compared to income of $1,321,232 for the six months ended December 31, 2016. 

Operating expenses for the three months ended December 31, 2017 were $1,230,747 (three months ended December 31, 2016 - $398,894).  For the six months ended December 31, 2017, operating expenses were $1,738,197 (six months ended December 31, 2016 - $652,254).  The increase in operating expenses was a result of the Company’s increased activity. 

Foreign exchange gain for the three months ended December 31, 2017 was $59,635 (three months ended December 31, 2016 - foreign exchange gain of $449,762). The Company holds a large portion of cash and cash equivalents and bonds in US dollars while the Company’s functional currency is the Canadian dollar. The fluctuation in exchange rates between the US dollar and Canadian dollar will impact the financial results of the Company.  During the three months ended December 31, 2017, the US dollar appreciated by 0.5% against Canadian dollar (from 1.2480 to 1.2545) while in the prior year the US dollar appreciated by 2.4% against Canadian dollar (from 1.3117 to 1.3427). 

SILVER SAND PROPERTY

The Company started the preparation work for the planned exploration program after the acquisition of the Silver Sand Property.  In October 2017, the Company successfully received exploration permits required by the relevant Bolivian government authorities and immediately commenced a 30,000 meter exploration drilling program on the property.  For the three and six months ended December 31, 2017, total expenditures of $966,651 and $1,354,399, respectively were capitalized under the property.  These expenditures were mainly related to the drilling program, site and camp preparation, maintaining a regional office in La Paz, and building a competent management team and workforce for the property.

ABOUT NEW PACIFIC

New Pacific Metals Corp. is a Canadian exploration and development company which owns the Silver Sand Project, in the Potosi Department of Bolivia, the Tagish Lake Gold Project in Yukon, Canada and the RZY Project in Qinghai Province, China. 

For further information, contact:

New Pacific Metals Corp.,
Gordon Neal
President
Phone: (604) 633-1368
Fax: (604) 669-9387
[email protected]
www.newpacificmetals.com

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING INFORMATION

Certain of the statements and information in this press release constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian provincial securities laws. Any statements or information that express or involve discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions or future events or performance (often, but not always, using words or phrases such as “expects”, “is expected”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “plans”, “projects”, “estimates”, “assumes”, “intends”, “strategies”, “targets”, “goals”, “forecasts”, “objectives”, “budgets”, “schedules”, “potential” or variations thereof or stating that certain actions, events or results “may”, “could”, “would”, “might” or “will” be taken, occur or be achieved, or the negative of any of these terms and similar expressions) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements or information.

Forward-looking statements or information are subject to a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information, including, without limitation, risks relating to: fluctuating equity prices, bond prices, commodity prices; calculation of resources, reserves and mineralization, foreign exchange risks, interest rate risk, foreign investment risk loss of key personnel; conflicts of interest; dependence on management and others. 

This list is not exhaustive of the factors that may affect any of the Company’s forward-looking statements or information. Forward-looking statements or information are statements about the future and are inherently uncertain, and actual achievements of the Company or other future events or conditions may differ materially from those reflected in the forward-looking statements or information due to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors, including, without limitation, those referred to in the Company’s Annual Information Form for the year ended June 30, 2017 under the heading “Risk Factors”. Although the Company 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, described or intended. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information. 

The Company’s forward-looking statements and information are based on the assumptions, beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this press release, and other than as required by applicable securities laws, the Company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements and information if circumstances or management’s assumptions, beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, or changes in any other events affecting such statements or information. For the reasons set forth above, investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and information.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.