IMC Exploration Group Plc - Half-year Report

THE DIRECTORS OF IMC EXPLORATION GROUP PLC CONSIDER THIS ANNOUNCEMENT TO CONTAIN INSIDE INFORMATION FOR THE PURPOSES OF ARTICLE 7 OF REGULATION (EU) NO. 596/2014 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF 16 APRIL 2014 ON MARKET ABUSE AS IT FORMS PART OF RETAINED EU LAW AS DEFINED IN THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018 (THE "MARKET ABUSE REGULATION"). UPON THE PUBLICATION OF THIS ANNOUNCEMENT THE INSIDE INFORMATION IS NOW CONSIDERED TO BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.

HALF-YEARLY FINANCIAL REPORT

FOR THE PERIOD 1st JULY 2023 TO 31st DECEMBER 2023

IMC Exploration Group Public Limited Company

(“IMC” or the “Company”)

Chairman’s Statement 

The Directors of IMC are pleased to present the Company’s unaudited, consolidated, half-yearly financial report for the six-month period ended 31 December 2023.

The six months under review have been very significant for IMC and its shareholders, with the successful completion, in October 2023, of the acquisition of MVI Ireland s.r.o. (“MVI”), the 100% owner of the Armenian company, Assat LLC, which owns and operates the Karaberd Mine, an operating gold mine located in Lori Marz, Northern Armenia.

The acquisition of MVI constituted a reverse takeover under the Listing Rules and as required by the Financial Conduct Authority’s updated rule on a minimum required market capitalisation of £30m for a company undertaking such a transaction, we were pleased that international consultants Alvarez and Marsal conducted a valuation of MVI, in accordance with the International Valuation Standards (IVS, 2020), that demonstrated a value in excess of the required threshold of £30m.

Since the completion of the acquisition of MVI on 1 November 2023 we have been delighted by the performance at the Karaberd mine and the extraction of ore continues, including a sale of ore in December 2023 for a consideration of €1,500,000.

We believe there is great potential in Armenia, both with the Karaberd mine and more widely.  We are continuing to review other projects in Armenia, and all at IMC believe that operating in Armenia will provide significant future growth opportunities.

I am also pleased that following our acquisition of MVI we have, post period end, strengthened the IMC Board with a new CFO, Vahagn Marukhyan, who has significant experience with Ernst & Young in Armenia, and a geologist, Gagik Gevorgyan, who has worked as chief geologist in Armenia with a number of mining companies and who has a tremendous knowledge of projects in Armenia that are likely to form part of the IMC pipeline of projects going forward.

In Ireland, IMC has a mineral-rich supply of spoils and tailings with a Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) on its Avoca spoils and tailings.  Based on the Inferred Mineral Resource Estimate there are circa. 20,000 oz gold, 600,000oz silver, 2,600 tonnes copper and 7,800 tonnes lead in these spoils and tailings heaps, which are in crushed rock sitting above ground. 

At current commodity metal prices, this represents a total gross value of £71,346,400.

IMC has the intention to advance the Avoca opportunity as an eco-remediation project, aligning closely with the goals outlined by both the Irish government and the objectives of the European Union.  To progress this opportunity, at IMC’s invitation, China National Geological & Mining Corporation (“CGM”), who have experience working global projects and especially have experience in eco-based extraction of metals and the remediation of mining sites, recently visited our Avoca site to assess how further progress should be made.  I am pleased to say that following this visit we have completed and signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Cooperation with CGM and I look forward to the completion of a project plan to maximise the potential of our Avoca site given the gross value of metals sitting in the spoils and tailings and also given that the European Union has passed a Nature Restoration Law requiring the restoration of up to 20% of lands and sea by 2030.  We believe that this will also give impetus to our proposed remediation of the 155-acre Avoca mine site.  We are also reviewing the potential for further copper extraction on our Avoca licence given the significant increase in copper prices since mining stopped in Avoca in 1982.

Also in Ireland, I am very encouraged by the recent drilling results from IMC’s North Wexford Gold Project which confirms interpretation of two structural zones, up to 20 metre (“m”) wide, associated with gold (“Au”) mineralization.  An historic drillhole intercepted 1.5m grading 354g/t Au, interpreted as part of an upper, near surface zone of mineralization and a lower zone of 2m grading 1.4g/t Au. The new drillhole extends these zones of mineralization by 150m to the northeast and intersected grades of 1m grading 5.8g/t Au in the upper zone and 1m grading 1.1g/t Au in the lower zone.  Both the upper and lower zones are open along strike and to depth.  Geological interpretation suggests more structural zones are present. The mineralization is present in wide zones of quartz-veined sediments (6m and 20m wide respectively) of which the upper zone is interpreted as the probable host of the 354g/t Au bonanza grade boulder.

The last six months has been very productive for IMC, particularly the successful conclusion of the acquisition of the Karaberd mine in Armenia and the strengthening of the Board.  With the current high price of gold, silver and copper and IMC’s projects in Armenia and Ireland, IMC expects to make notable progress in the coming months.

Eamon P. O’Brien,
Executive Chairman,
Dublin, 28 March 2024

IMC Exploration Group Public Limited Company

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the period 1st July 2023 to 31st December 2023

Continuing Operations     

All activities derived from continuing operations. All gains or losses and total comprehensive income or losses for the period are attributable to the owners of the Company.

The Company has no recognised gains or losses other than those dealt with in the statement of comprehensive income.

IMC Exploration Group Public Limited Company

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

As at 31st December 2023

IMC Exploration Group Public Limited Company

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the period 1st July 2023 to 31st December 2023

IMC Exploration Group Public Limited Company

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the period 1st July 2023 to 31st December 2023

The Board continuously assesses and monitors the key risks and uncertainties affecting the business. These have not substantially changed from those set out in the prospectus dated 29 September 2023 and published by the Company.

Responsibility Statement

The directors of the Company (the “Directors”) are responsible for the contents of this half-yearly financial report.

The Directors, being Eamon O’Brien, Kathryn Byrne, Andrew (Laz) Fleming, Vahagn Marukhyan and Gagik Gevorgyan, confirm that to the best of their knowledge:

·      The half-yearly financial report, which has been prepared in accordance with the applicable set of accounting standards, gives a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the issuer, or the undertakings included in the consolidation as a whole as required by DTR 4.2.4 R; and

·      the interim management report (including the Chairman’s Statement) includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.7 R;

·      the interim management report (including the Chairman’s Statement) includes a fair review of the information required by DTR 4.2.8 R.

REGULATORY ANNOUNCEMENT ENDS.

Enquiries

IMC Exploration Group plc

Eamon O’Brien

+353 87 6183024

Kathryn Byrne

+353 85 233 6033
 

Keith, Bayley, Rogers & Co. Limited

Stephen Clayson

stephen.clayson@kbrl.co.uk

+44 (0)7771 871 847

Brinsley Holman

brinsley.holman@kbrl.co.uk

+44 (0)7776 302 228

IFC Advisory Limited (Financial PR and IR)

Tim Metcalfe

Florence Chandler

+44 (0)203 934 6630