File photo of gold bars.MICHAEL DALDER/Reuters
Our roundup of Canadian small-caps making news and on the move today.
Midas Gold Corp. (MAX-T) said it has entered into a private placement agreement with Haywood Securities Inc., on behalf of a syndicate of agents, under which they will sell up to 12-million units of the company at a price of 42 cents per unit, resulting in gross proceeds to the company of up to $5-million.
"The company intends to use the net proceeds of the financings to fund the continued advancement of the company's Stibnite Gold Project, and for working capital and general corporate purposes," Midas Gold said.
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Canfor Corp. (CFP-T) reported net income attributable to shareholders of $29.3-million, or 22 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2015, compared to $45.5-million, or 33 cents per share, for the first quarter of 2014. Sales for the first quarter were $930-million, up from $741.9-million a year earlier.
After adjusting for items affecting comparability with the prior periods, adjusted shareholder net income for the first quarter of 2015 was $45.7-million, or 34 cents per share, compared to an adjusted shareholder net income $46.4-million, or 34 cents per share for the year-earlier quarter.
"Our lumber operations showed solid productivity gains through the quarter following the ramp-ups of several major capital upgrades completed in 2014. Our recent U.S. South acquisitions are having an increasingly positive impact on our results," said Don Kayne, Canfor's CEO.
"After the challenging weather in many regions of North America in the first quarter of 2015, the North American lumber market is off to a slow start in the second quarter with benchmark lumber prices having continued to trend downward. A modest improvement for the North American market is anticipated towards the middle of the year as the US housing market gains momentum," the company said.
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Cyprium Mining Corp. (CUG-X)said it has signed an agreement with Minerales Nacionales de Mexico S.A. de C.V. and Minera Potosi Silver S. de R.L. de C.V. to evaluate and process up to 50,000 tons of stockpiles from the Potosi Silver mine in Santa Eulalia in Chihuahua State, Mexico. The Potosi Silver mine was discovered in 1707 and its main commercial operations took place between 1925 and 1991, the company said. In addition, the mine is 42 kilometers from Cyprium's Aldama plant.
"Under the agreement, Cyprium will purchase the materialized material from Potosi Silver on a shared profit basis," said Alain Lambert, chairman of Cyprium.
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Denison Mines Corp. (DML-T; DNN-A) said under a bought-deal agreement with Dundee Securities Ltd. it will sell 12-million flow-through common shares at $1.25 each for total proceeds of $15-million. The company said it will use the proceeds for "Canadian exploration expenses" related to its Canadian uranium mining exploration projects.
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SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (SGQ-T) said the Second District Criminal Court of Justice in Mongolia has refused to allow its appeal to the Supreme Court of Mongolia regarding the verdict issued March 25 that dismissed the company's appeal against a tax verdict issued by Second District Criminal Court of Justice.
As a result, the company has sent a letter and has filed an official protest with the Second District Criminal Court of Justice against their decision. "Pending a written response from the Court, the company will continue to defend itself through all available legal means," it said.
"The company has firmly and consistently rejected the tax verdict and subsequently the Appeal Verdict which it believes were both reached on the basis of the same erroneous and false reports. The company reiterates that there is a complete lack of evidence to support the two verdicts," it said in a statement.
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Orbite Aluminae Inc. (ORT-T) reported a net loss of $2.7-million, or one cent per share, for the first quarter ended March 31, 2015, which compared to a net loss of $4.4-million, or two cents per share, for the same period in 2014, representing a decrease of $1.7-million, or 39.1 per cent.
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SENSIO Technologies Inc. (SIO-X) said it has signed an agreement with Samsung Electronics Inc. to make 3DGO! available on Samsung's smart TV platforms in territories where 3DGO!operates. The launch is expected in the second half of 2015 in North America and will cover all Smart TVs sold since 2012 which are also 3D capable, including Samsung's 2015 SUHD TV models, the company said. 3DGO! is a 3D transactional video-on-demand service offering a large selection of high-quality 3D content, including some 3D Hollywood blockbuster titles, via Internet streaming to 3D smart devices.
The company also reported its third-quarter results, in which revenues totalled $102,881 for the quarter, down 34.1 per cent compared to a year earlier. The net loss for the quarter was $601,768 compared to a loss of $895,874 a year ago, a decrease of $294,106 or 32.8 per cent.
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Stella-Jones Inc. (SJ-T) reported sales of $340.7-million, up 32.3 per cent from $257.5-million last year, and that net income rose 33.7 per cent to $30.1-million, compared to $22.5-million last year.
"We are pleased with these results that show healthy demand in our core markets as well as the strong contribution of our recent acquisition. Furthermore, adjustments in our selling prices in response to higher input costs for untreated railway ties helped us to improve our gross profit margin when compared to recent quarters," said Brian McManus, Stella-Jones' president and CEO.
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Khan Resources Inc. (KRI-CN) provided another update on its dispute with the Government of Mongolia, which said it will try to annul a $100-million award granted by an international tribunal. "The company is not aware of any grounds that would justify the annulment of the award and believes that there would be a minimal chance of success for such an initiative," Khan said. The award stems from the 2009 cancellation of licences to mine the Dornod uranium project. In March, a tribunal ordered Mongolia to pay more than $100-million to Khan as compensation. When discussion fell apart, Khan's chairman and Bay Street veteran traveled to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator to seek a resolution. He was found dead in his hotel room last Thursday from what are suspected to be natural causes. Then, on Monday, the Mongolian justice minister said the government will seek to have the award invalidated. "The Government of Mongolia's apparent intention of trying to set aside the award shows a desperate and short-sighted approach to settlement," said Grant Edey, CEO of Khan. "It is of course the Mongolian government's decision as to whether they want to respect the rule of law and honour the award, or join the small group of recalcitrant sovereigns who make attempts to avoid their international obligations."
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Patient Home Monitoring Corp. (PHM-X) said it has executed another letter of intent (LOI) in its spate of recent acquisitions. The non-binding LOI is aimed at acquiring a company headquartered in the southeast U.S. with revenues of about $40-million and annual adjusted EBITDA of about $13-million. "This is a transformational acquisition for PHM," said Michael Dalsin, chairman of PHM. "With this acquisition, and assuming we close all of the outstanding LOIs, PHM will be about a $140-million run rate revenue company with more than $32-million in run rate adjusted EBITDA."
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CRH Medical Corp. (CRH-T) reported its financial results for the first quarter, in which the company generated revenue of $9.6-million, representing a near five-fold increase over the same quarter the prior year. The increase is due in large part to the acquisition of an anaesthesia services company announced in December. "The anesthesia services business line represents a significant growth opportunity for CRH and during [the first quarter] we confirmed two add-on anesthesia transactions," said Edward Wright, the company's CEO. "We believe that those two additional transactions represent the first of many more potential anesthesia related transactions for CRH, which we believe could have a significant impact on revenue and Operating EBITDA in the future."