Elemental Royalties Limited, (“Elemental”), a private company expanding a diversified portfolio of mineral royalties, is pleased to comment on the Q1 2020 operating results announced by Premier Gold Mines Limited (“Premier”). Premier is the operator of the Mercedes gold-silver mine located in State of Sonora in northern Mexico, on which Elemental Royalties holds a 1% NSR royalty subject to a production hurdle.

Elemental notes that production at Mercedes during Q1 2020 was 11,587 Oz Au and 52,207 Oz Ag compared to 17,614 Oz Au and 57,681 Oz Ag during Q1 2019. The decrease in gold ounces produced compared to Q1 2019 is due primarily to lower grade ore delivered to the mill. Despite progress made late in the quarter to reduce dilution in certain zones and progress with development work to access higher-grade areas including Lupita Extension, the lower-grade Diluvio zone, where dilution remains a challenge, continued to be the primary source of ore.

Tonnage mined during Q1 2020 was also lower when compared to Q1 2019, driven by a reduction in the mining rate during the last ten days of March as the Company began to prepare for the shut down imposed by the government of Mexico in response to COVID-19, which resulted in the mine being placed into care and maintenance.

Unit operating costs at Mercedes on a co-product basis were cash costs of $1,282 and all-in sustaining costs (AISC) of $1,883 per ounce of gold sold.  Despite operating efficiencies that resulted in mining and processing costs per tonne below budget, lower grade and mill throughput resulted in higher unit costs per ounce compared to plan and Q1 2019. Sustaining capital costs at Mercedes were $4.5 million for the quarter, which were in line with the 2020 budget but an increase over the prior year quarter due to increased development activities as the Company focuses on accessing higher grade material.  Total capital expenditures were $4.8M, significantly lower than the prior year period mostly due to less expansionary development.

Exploration activities continued during the quarter with a total of 1,829m drilled and focus on higher-grade gold mineralization at Lupita Extension, San Martin, Diluvio West and Marianas.

The text above is Elemental Royalties’ comment to the operator’s news release and is not included within the original release. The original article is available using the links below.

The Premier management team’s 2020 Q1 conference call replay will be available until May 13, 2020 and can be accessed using the link below:

Conference Call Replay: 
https://produceredition.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1306798&tp_key=c7dd9b4269

Original Article: 
https://www.premiergoldmines.com/q4–ye-2019-results

Download PDF: 
http://elementalroyalties.com/_resources/news/2020/pr-q1-2020-q1-results.pdf?v=0.850
 

About Elemental Royalties Limited

Elemental provides investors with exposure to a dividend-paying royalty company building a diverse portfolio of mining royalties, benefiting from ongoing royalty revenue, future exploration upside and low operating costs.

Since early 2017 Elemental has assembled a portfolio of six royalties over seven commodities in five countries, five of which cover producing mines. Immediate cash-flow has enabled Elemental to limit dilutive fund-raisings to facilitate royalty acquisitions, and to pay a dividend from inception.

Elemental’s focus remains on securing royalties over advanced assets with established operators and credible counter-parties from a robust pipeline of potential royalty acquisitions across commodities and geographies.

For further information you are invited to visit the Company’s website www.elementalroyalties.com or contact:

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements

This press release may contain statements which constitute “forward-looking”, including statements regarding the plans, intentions, beliefs and current expectations of the Company, and its directors, or officers with respect to the future business activities and operating performance of the Company. The words “may”, “would”, “could”, “will”, “intend”, “plan”, “anticipate”, “believe”, “estimate”, “expect” and similar expressions or the negative thereof, as they relate to the Company, or its management, are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.

Investors are cautioned that any such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future business activities or performance and involve risks and uncertainties, and that the Company’s future business activities may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors.

Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described herein as intended, planned, anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.  These forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this press release.  Although the Company has attempted to identify important risks, uncertainties and factors which could cause actual results to differ materially, there may be others that cause results not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. The Company does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking statements.