NEWS RELEASE
May 3, 2017– Vancouver, BC – Japan Gold Corp. (TSX-V: JG) (OTCQB: JGLDF) (“Japan Gold” or the “Company”) announces that the Company’s audited consolidated financial results for the six month financial year ended December 31, 2016 have been filed on SEDAR. The full version of the Financial Statements and Management’s Discussion & Analysis can be viewed on the Company’s website at www.japangold.com or on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.
The Company changed its fiscal year-end from June 30 to December 31, effective December 31, 2016 in order to coincide with its peers in the mining industry. Accordingly, the current consolidated financial statements are prepared for six months from July 1, 2016 to December 31, 2016. As a result, the figures stated in the consolidated statements of loss and comprehensive loss, changes in equity, cash flows and the related notes are compared to the consolidated financial statements for the year ending June 30, 2016. The consolidated statements of financial position are as at December 31, 2016 and June 30, 2016. As such, these amounts may not be entirely comparable.
FINANCIAL SNAPSHOT
| December 31, 2016 | June 30, 2016 | June 30, 2015 | |
| Total assets | $ 5,559,592 | $ 8,270 | $ 12,287 |
| Working capital | 5,343,655 | (948,669) | (483,042) |
| Comprehensive loss* | (8,180,491) | (465,627) | (386,852) |
*The $8,180,491 of comprehensive loss was due primarily to a one-time reverse acquisition cost of $4,694,258 relating to the acquisition of Southern Arc Minerals Japan KK.
As at May 1, 2017, Japan Gold had approximately $4.4 million in working capital.
Corporate and Operating Highlights for the Six Month Financial Year Ended December 31, 2016
- On September 15, 2016, the Company acquired Southern Arc Minerals Japan KK and changed its name to Japan Gold Corp. from Sky Ridge Resources Ltd., launching the first foreign mineral exploration company to focus solely on Japan.
- In connection with the acquisition on September 15, 2016, the Company completed a financing for gross proceeds of $7,000,000 for 17,500,000 common shares at a price of $0.40 per share.
- At the time of the acquisition, Japan Gold held 80 prospecting rights license applications covering 27,153 hectares across eight distinct projects prospective for high-grade gold and potentially porphyry copper-gold mineralization, including several historical high-grade gold mines.
- As at May 1, 2017, the Company had increased its project portfolio from 80 to 160 accepted prospecting rights license applications covering 53,218 hectares over eleven separate projects on three main islands of Japan, Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu.
- In December 2016, the Company completed a regional exploration program at the priority Ikutahara Project. Six geologists and support teams undertook a nine-week field program from October to December 2016, completing prospecting, geological mapping, collecting stream sediment BLEG and fine fraction drainage samples and rock float and outcrop sampling over the majority of the initial 38 Ikutahara Project applications.
- Results of the Ikutahara exploration program highlighted large coherent gold and gold-pathfinder anomalies over extensive drainage areas within the Ikutahara Project area.
- On December 1, 2016, the Company was granted Prospecting Rights over its nine contiguous applications covering the Eboshi Project in northern Honshu, totaling 3,080 hectares.
- On April 25, 2017, the Company announced key appointments to its senior management and Board of Advisors. Takashi Kuriyama, a Japanese geologist with over 42 years of domestic and international exploration and mining business experience, and previously the General Manager of Global Exploration and Development, Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd., formally accepted the post of General Manager, Exploration. In addition, internationally respected geologists Douglas Kirwin and Dr. Steve Garwin joined the Company’s Board of Advisors.
Strategic Priorities
- Continue to build a high quality project portfolio in Japan.
- Advance the top priority Ikutahara Project. The Company has identified targets for the 2017 drilling campaign, developed from:
- Historical results from two of the 16 past producing mines on the project.
- Encouraging results from the 2016 regional exploration program at Ikutahara.
- Complete regional exploration program at the second priority Aibetsu Project in order to develop drill targets for the 2018 drill campaign.
- Complete detailed geological and alteration mapping of the Eboshi Project, which has been granted Prospecting Rights.
On behalf of the Board of Japan Gold Corp.
“John Proust”
Chairman & CEO
About Japan Gold Corp.
Japan Gold Corp. is a Canadian mineral exploration company focused solely on gold and copper-gold exploration in Japan. The Company has applied for 160 prospecting rights licenses for a combined area of 53,218 hectares over eleven separate projects. The Company’s portfolio now has projects on the three main islands of Japan, Hokkaido, Honshu and Kyushu. Seven projects cover areas with known gold occurrences and a history of mining, and are prospective for high-grade epithermal gold mineralization. Four of the projects, in southern Hokkaido and northern Honshu, are located over gold-bearing lithocaps, which may indicate the presence of porphyry mineralization, a deposit style yet to be identified in Japan. Japan Gold’s leadership team has decades of resource industry and business experience, and the Company has recruited geologists and technical advisors with experience exploring and operating in Japan. Low-impact surface exploration is underway, with the expectation of applying for drilling this year. More information is available at www.japangold.com or by email at
Japan Gold Contacts
John Proust
Chairman & CEO
Phone: 778-725-1491
Email:
Cautionary Note
Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.