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SouthGobi Resources Announces Second Quarter 2013 Financial and Operating Results

HONG KONG, CHINA--(Marketwired - Aug 12, 2013) - SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (SGQ.TO)(1878.HK), (the "Company" or "SouthGobi") today announced its financial and operating results for the three and six months ended June 30, 2013. All figures are in U.S. Dollars unless otherwise stated.

SIGNIFICANT EVENTS

The Company's significant events for the quarter ended June 30, 2013 and subsequent weeks are as follows:

  • Entered into a coal supply agreement with Winsway Coking Coal Holdings Limited ("Winsway") for the sale of 1.2 million tonnes of Standard semi-soft coking coal in 2013. Agreement reaffirms the Company's longstanding relationship with Winsway, a key customer, as SouthGobi continues to focus on its 2013 commercial objectives;

  • Announced the appointment of Enkh-Amgalan Sengee as President and Executive Director of SouthGobi Sands LLC, the Company's indirectly wholly-owned subsidiary, effective July 15, 2013;

  • Announced the appointment of Brett Salt as Chief Commercial Officer and his resignation as a non-executive director, effective August 1, 2013;

  • Second quarter sales volumes and revenue declined to 0.04 million tonnes and $0.4 million, respectively, in 2013, compared to 0.16 million tonnes and $8.4 million in 2012.

REVIEW OF QUARTERLY OPERATING RESULTS

The Company's operating results for the previous eight quarters are summarized in the table below:

2013

2012

2011

QUARTER ENDED

30-Jun

31-Mar

31-Dec

30-Sep

30-Jun

31-Mar

31-Dec

30-Sep

Raw coal production (millions of tonnes)

0.17

0.02

-

-

0.27

1.07

1.34

1.25

Sales volumes and prices (i)

SouthGobi premium semi-soft coking coal

Coal sales (millions of tonnes)

-

0.08

0.03

-

0.12

0.31

0.53

0.66

Average realized selling price (per tonne)

$

-

$

45.81

$

47.86

$

-

$

67.17

$

67.59

$

67.62

$

66.83

SouthGobi standard semi-soft coking coal

Coal sales (millions of tonnes)

-

-

-

-

0.04

0.53

0.37

0.20

Average realized selling price (per tonne)

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

-

$

49.91

$

50.40

$

48.59

$

48.17

SouthGobi thermal coal

Coal sales (millions of tonnes)

0.04

0.00

-

0.31

0.00

-

0.25

0.51

Average realized selling price (per tonne)

$

14.40

$

13.67

$

-

$

15.79

$

38.80

$

-

$

40.30

$

39.74

Total

Coal sales (millions of tonnes)

0.04

0.08

0.03

0.31

0.16

0.84

1.15

1.37

Average realized selling price (per tonne)

$

14.40

$

45.02

$

47.86

$

15.79

$

62.56

$

56.79

$

55.51

$

54.01

Costs

Direct cash costs of product sold excluding idled mine asset costs

$

10.36

$

35.46

$

33.11

$

8.23

$

22.57

$

10.80

$

22.14

$

22.64

(per tonne) (ii)

Total cash costs of product sold excluding idled mine asset costs

$

70.14

$

40.52

$

38.17

$

12.12

$

31.49

$

15.04

$

23.09

$

23.17

(per tonne) (ii)

Waste movement and stripping ratio

Production waste material moved (millions of bank cubic meters)

2.71

0.40

-

-

1.16

2.20

4.58

4.10

Strip ratio (bank cubic meters of waste material per tonne of coal produced)

15.55

26.21

-

-

4.31

2.07

3.42

3.28

Pre-production waste material moved (millions of bank cubic meters)

-

-

-

-

-

-

-

0.39

Other operating capacity statistics

Capacity of key mining fleet

Number of mining shovels/excavators available at period end

5

5

5

4

4

3

3

3

Total combined stated mining shovel/excavator capacity at period end (cubic meters)

113

113

113

98

98

64

64

64

Number of haul trucks available at period end

24

31

27

27

27

27

25

16

Total combined stated haul truck capacity at period end (tonnes)

4,978

5,615

4,743

4,743

4,743

4,743

4,561

2,599

Employees and safety

Employees at period end

449

444

465

644

693

720

720

695

Lost time injury frequency rate (iii)

-

-

0.1

0.2

0.2

0.3

0.2

0.2

(i)

The sales volumes and prices that have been previously disclosed as raw semi-soft coking coal, raw medium-ash coal and raw higher-ash coal have now been reclassified as SouthGobi premium semi-soft coking coal, SouthGobi standard semi-soft coking coal and SouthGobi thermal coal, respectively, to reflect the Company's new product strategy

(ii)

A non-International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") financial measure, see Non-IFRS Financial Measures section

(iii)

Per 200,000 man hours

On March 22, 2013, SouthGobi announced the resumption of operations at its flagship Ovoot Tolgoi Mine. The Company recognized revenue of $0.4 million in the second quarter of 2013 compared to $3.3 million in the first quarter of 2013 and $8.4 million in the second quarter of 2012. In the first half of 2013, the Company's sales volume and average realized selling price continued to be negatively impacted by the softness of the inland China coking coal markets closest to SouthGobi's operations. Economic activity post transition in China's leadership has been slower than expected. The Chinese steel industry has been particularly affected and, as a result, demand and prices for coking coal have been negatively impacted. Subsequent to the end of the second quarter of 2013, SouthGobi entered into a coal supply agreement with Winsway, an integrated logistic service provider, for the sale of 1.2 million tonnes of Standard semi-soft coking coal in 2013.