High River Gold (HRG) completes Jilbey merger
[ The Jilbey web-page is still up and doesn't seem to note that Jilbey no longer exists. The board header here should probably be updated by deleting Jilbey at some point. FL ]
2005-09-01 15:59 ET - News Release
Mr. Don Whalen reports
HIGH RIVER GOLD COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF JILBEY
High River Gold Mines Ltd. has completed its merger with Jilbey Gold Exploration Ltd. by way of plan of arrangement, which was approved by Jilbey's shareholders on Aug. 19, 2005.
Under the terms of the plan of arrangement, Jilbey amalgamated with a 100-per-cent-owned subsidiary of High River and Jilbey shareholders received 0.75 common share of High River for each common share of Jilbey held. As a result of the completion of the plan of arrangement, High River issued 19,346,758 common shares of the company with 6,750,028 common shares issuable in respect of the exercise of warrants/options held by Jilbey shareholders. High River now has 216,150,272 common shares issued and outstanding.
The merger establishes High River as a dominant gold company in Burkina Faso, with production scheduled to commence in 2006 at the Taparko-Bouroum property and a large highly prospective property package (approximately 8,000 square kilometres), which includes the exciting Bissa property and the recent high-grade gold discovery at Labola. As a result, High River can effectively optimize its technical exploration programs and development initiatives in Burkina Faso.
The Bissa project exploration program for the remainder of 2005 will be accelerated, with $2.4-million (U.S.) budgeted for the last three months of the year. A drilling contract covering three drills is being finalized to carry out core, reverse circulation and reverse air blast drilling for 10,500 metres, 17,500 m and 6,000 m respectively. This drilling program is expected to provide the information required to calculate a new resource estimate for the Bissa property by year-end or early 2006.
High River is constructing two open-pit gold mines, which are scheduled to commence production next year, the Taparko-Bouroum project in Burkina Faso and the Berezitovy project in Russia. Annual gold production from Taparko-Bouroum is planned at 100,000 ounces in year one, increasing to over 140,000 ounces in the third year of operation, with annual production from Berezitovy of 100,000 ounces. Combined with gold production from High River's 84-per-cent-owned Russian subsidiary, OJSC Buryatzoloto, High River's attributable annual gold production is planned to exceed 300,000 ounces by 2007, establishing the company as a mid-tier gold producer.
