PROGRESS REPORT AND ACCOUNTS
OF THE AFRICAN EAGLE GROUP TO 31st DECEMBER 2003
News Report
3 June 2004
Chairman’s statement
The Company's most significant corporate achievements of 2003 were the admission of African Eagle's shares to trading on AIM and the raising of new capital. At admission to AIM and since, the Company has welcomed several new institutional investors onto its share register, raising almost £3.4 million. These funds are allowing the Company to make good progress on our key Miyabi and Eagle Eye projects, and to extend activities into other existing and new project areas.
Last year, especially in the months following our AIM admission, saw the first sustained rise in metals prices for many years, fuelled for the most part by rising demand from China and the weak US dollar. Whilst we've since seen something of a correction to this rapid escalation in the prices of metals and mining shares, the future for explorers with quality projects remains a positive one.
Although rising prices have stimulated the listing of new exploration companies and the search for new sources of supply, the practical difficulties involved in finding new projects and bringing them on-stream mean that it is likely to be several years before a new market equilibrium is established.
With cash in the bank and a portfolio of promising projects in countries which have under-explored mineral wealth, growing economies and relatively low political risk, the Company is well placed to take advantage of this period.
I am also pleased to report that the Company's headquarters are now located in the City of London. Opened in March 2004, the Group's new office will allow the Company to maintain better contact with its investors and stakeholders, and to expand its UK-based technical capabilities and corporate relationships.
For reviews of all our projects and to see our news releases, please visit www.africaneagle.co.uk
Zambia
The exploration highlight of 2003 was our discovery of the Eagle Eye IOCG (iron-oxide-copper-gold) deposit on the Sasare licence in southeast Zambia. In the course of the year, Chris Davies, Dinis Napido and Boniface Lefayi, supported by a contract exploration team from GeoQuest, completed surface surveys over the target area and began a drill programme. The initial drilling results, which your executive directors will expand on later in this report, were highly promising, and we are looking forward eagerly to re-starting drilling in June this year.
The mineralisation at Eagle Eye is very extensive and has many of the characteristics of IOCG deposits like Olympic Dam and Ernest Henry in Australia, Candelaria in Chile and Salobo in Brazil. While there are no guarantees in early stage mineral exploration, IOCG deposits can be very large.
With all the excitement at Eagle Eye, our other Zambian projects remained rather on the back-burner during 2003, but we have now recruited Clive Arthur as full-time exploration manager for Zambia to be based in Lusaka and we are planning airborne and surface surveys over Eagle Eye, the adjacent Sasare gold project and several other areas, notably Kampumba which contains promising copper-silver-gold mineralisation.
Tanzania
In Tanzania, we made steady progress on the Miyabi gold project. Because of the large area of the Miyabi Gold Corridor (7km x 2km), much of our exploration focussed on tracking down the individual gold-bearing structures within it. The results of all our surface surveys and exploratory drilling were thoroughly reviewed by Mark Davey, revealing a number of new target structures which are now being tested by drilling.
As well as the work on the Miyabi Corridor, we have been exploring the rest of our 626 sq km holdings in the area, using airborne geophysical and multi-element soil geochemical surveys to identify other mineralised targets, and these surveys have already revealed at least one significant new gold anomaly.
Our exploration partner at Miyabi, Gold Fields Limited, chose not to exercise its option to enter into a formal joint venture. African Eagle now retains the whole Miyabi project largely unencumbered and will continue its aggressive exploration there, focussing on resource definition. Gold Fields will remain a significant shareholder in African Eagle and will continue to monitor progress at Miyabi in that capacity. The directors believe that this demonstrates Gold Fields' belief that our exploration programme has the potential to uncover a significant gold resource.
Work has also progressed on our other Tanzanian holdings: our shear zone gold discoveries at Kakumbi and Msasa, and the nickel / platinum target at Zanzui. Tanzanian Exploration Manager John McDonald also negotiated options over seven new licences in the Lake Victoria Goldfield.
Mozambique
This year saw the introduction of Mozambique's new mining law, and our two licences have been converted to new-style 5-year holdings. We plan to carry out geochemical soil sampling over the Muazua nickel and Majele gold and base metals targets, with trenching and magnetic surveys to follow.
The African Eagle team is focused on delivering shareholder value. With funds available and a growing asset base of new and existing projects the future looks very exciting for the Company. I take this opportunity to thank the board and our management and advisors for their enthusiasm and motivation during the past year.
The Annual Report can be obtained from the Company's website, www.africaneagle.co.uk, and is also available free of charge until 1 July 2004 from the Company's office: 2nd floor, 6-7 Queen Street, London EC4N 1SP (Tel: 020 7248 6059).
John Park
Chairman
African Eagle Resources plc
THE AFRICAN EAGLE GROUP - AUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR FROM 1 JANUARY 2003 TO 31 DECEMBER 2003
|
PROFIT AND LOSS ACCOUNT |
||
|
Year to 31 Dec 2003 £ |
Year to 31 Dec 2002 £ |
|
|
Turnover |
- |
- |
|
Administrative expenses |
(378,321) |
(528,118) |
|
Operating loss |
(378,321) |
(528,118) |
|
Interest receivable and similar income |
13,237 |
5,650 |
|
Loss on ordinary activities before taxation |
(365,084) |
(522,468) |
|
Tax on loss on ordinary activities |
- |
- |
|
Loss for the financial year |
(365,084) |
(522,468) |
|
Loss per share (pence) |
(0.9p) |
(2.0p) |
|
BALANCE SHEET |
||
|
At 31 Dec 2003 £ |
At 31 Dec 2002 £ |
|
|
Fixed assets |
||
|
Intangible assets Note 1 |
1,999,022 |
1,335,490 |
|
Tangible assets |
55,678 |
9,364 |
|
Investments |
13,591 |
13,591 |
|
2,068,291 |
1,358,445 |
|
|
Current assets |
||
|
Debtors |
24,311 |
21,976 |
|
Cash at bank and in hand |
2,426,474 |
222,420 |
|
Creditors - amounts falling due within one year |
(68,508) |
(98,894) |
|
Net current assets / liabilities |
2,382,277 |
145,502 |
|
Total assets less current liabilities |
4,450,568 |
1,503,947 |
|
Capital and reserves |
||
|
Called up share capital |
756,895 |
296,318 |
|
Share premium account |
4,393,848 |
1,469,359 |
|
Other reserves |
705,723 |
705,723 |
|
Profit and loss account |
(1,405,898) |
(967,453) |
|
Shareholders’ funds |
4,450,568 |
1,503,947 |
Notes