GRANDE PRAIRIE, Alberta, May 2, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- ANGKOR GOLD CORP. (TSX-V:ANK) ("ANGKOR") is pleased to announce that a consortium of investors have purchased an aggregate of 2.5% of the 7.5% Net Smelter Royalty ("NSR") on the Phum Syarung gold prospect. Of the 2.5% NSR sold, 1.0% was sold to related parties of Angkor. The money was raised on the basis of $175,000 per 0.5% and carries a buy back clause by Angkor. A total of $875,000 was raised. The proceeds of the sale are being used to fund ongoing exploration in Cambodia and to eliminate debt.
Angkor owns an NSR on all future production at Phum Syarung by Mesco Gold Ltd. ("Mesco"). The NSR is based on a sliding scale gold price as announced on November 14th 2013 and at the current spot price of gold, the NSR would be 7.5%.
Mike Weeks, CEO of Angkor Gold commented, "This is a win/win. The NSR is being purchased by existing shareholders and provides the Company with a non-dilutive source of funds for exploration, further prospect generation, and license obligations. The buyback gives Angkor the flexibility to regain that portion of the NSR as Mesco is closer to production."
ANGKOR's 7 exploration licences in the Kingdom of Cambodia cover 1448 km2, which the company has been actively exploring over the past 5 years. The company has now covered all tenements with stream sediment geochemical sampling; has flown low level aeromagnetic surveys over most of the ground; drilled 18,737 metres of NQ core in 148 holes; and has collected in excess of 20,000 augered 'C' zone soil samples and over 48,000 termite mound samples in 17 centres of interest, over a combined area of 80km2, in addition to numerous trenches and detailed geological field mapping. Exploration on all tenements is ongoing.
ANGKOR GOLD CORP., a public company listed on the TSX Venture Exchange, is Cambodia's premier gold explorer with a significantly large land package and a first-mover advantage with excellent relationships at all levels of Government (local to national).
Because the value of the NSR sale is less than 25% of Angkor's market capitalization, Angkor is exempted from the requirement to have a formal valuation and from the requirement for minority shareholder approval with respect to the transaction. As of the date of this press release, based upon the last closing price of Angkor's common shares on the TSX Venture Exchange, Angkor's market capitalization is CA$28,616,440.
The transaction was approved by the Board of Directors of Angkor, with those directors who intended to purchase a portion of the NSR abstaining from voting.
THIS PRESS RELEASE, REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE CANADIAN LAWS, IS NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWS SERVICES OR FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES, AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL OR A SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO SELL ANY OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN IN THE UNITED STATES. THESE SECURITIES HAVE NOT BEEN, AND WILL NOT BE, REGISTERED UNDER THE UNITED STATES SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED, OR ANY STATE SECURITIES LAWS, AND MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD IN THE UNITED STATES OR TO U.S. PERSONS UNLESS REGISTERED OR EXEMPT THEREFROM