TKR-ASE - Takla Star AGM - Here is a few excerpts from the Annual
Report for the year ending Dec. 31/96:
(all x 1,000's) 1996 1995
Working Capital (mostly cash) 10,925 7,806
yes, that's almost 11 million!
Share's outstanding 12,729 11,187
- Fully diluted at 12/31/96 14,000
- Based on my reading of the F/S notes there are approx. 1.2 million
of options o/s at an average price of about 1.80
Working capital per share $0.86 $0.70
Cash flow from operations-net expense 276 371
i.e. General & admin, salaries, promotion...
Takla capitalizes all property purchase and exploration costs so these
are not included in operating costs.
Trading information: 1997 1996 1995 1994
to date
Low 4.10 1.75 1.00 1.10
High 1.71 11.00 8.50 2.70
Volume (milion shares) low 9.7 11.3 1.5
Contact for more info: Mr. Bill Bale - VP Corporate Development
(403) 421-4521
Properties - all of Takla's S.Amer properties are in early stages of
exploration:
Bolivia: 10 properties encompassing approx. 80,000 ha of
concesssions. Project names include Orkho Pina, La Joya (recently jv'd),
AndresII, Asu Asuni, San Miguel, and Ubina.
Peru: TKR acquired 2 gold exploration projects in '96 in southern
Peru encompassing approx. 38,000 ha of mineral rights. Planned for
1997 are extensive remote sensing and surface exploration of Antabamba
and Sandia projects.
Canada: TKR acquired 24,300 ha of claims in Labrador in 1994
in the immediate area of Diamond Fields Ni-Cu-Co discovery. Takla's
jv partner that expends most of the exploration in VB spent approx. 3
million on Takla's VB claims in '96.
The biggest hope in VB for TKR in '97 appears to be project #61.
Initial drill exploration indicated assay values as high as 1.86%Ni,
0.95%Cu, and 0.165%Co in gossan samples, and 0.45%Ni, 0.18%Cu over 7.4m
of drill core. The mineralization and geology strongly resemble
western extension of the Voiseys Bay deposits.
For 1997, a deep diamond drilling program is planned to be performed
by NDT in July.
All of the above information is from TKR's annual report.
Takla's philosphy is to keep a low profile with large cash reserves
to capitalize on opportunities to purchase additional exploration
properties. For most projects, Takla only spends their own cash on
the acquisition, and enough exploration to clarify the geology and
make the property attractive enough to obtain a jv partner to spend
the much larger exploration dollars.
Patience, continuing to seek out high quality projects, and not
spending "high risk" expensive exploration dollars out of their own
pocket are traits that President James Stewart mentioned at the AGM as
continuing to guide Takla over the next year.
This approach makes TKR very attractive IMO in this type of market.
They won't be wasting millions of dollars on exploration that the mkts
won't respond to anyway.
Having excess cash not required for current year drill programs and
operating costs makes Takla very attractive and means share dilution
over the next 12 mos. should not be more than another 1-2 million
shares from options, etc. During 1996 share dilution was only 1.5
million shares from 11.2 to 12.7 million (13%). This is much better
than your "average" exploration company that requires financings
more frequently to dund exploration. 50-100% dilution is frequent
with many ASE/VSE listed companies.
Bottom line. Call the company and check them out for yourself. The
current stock price trend has been down for quite some time now and
volume/price have not yet shown signs of a reversal. I would not sell
at current prices as with a small float this stock has shown how it
move over 1.00 very quickly when someone wants it to.
IMO the risk/ reward ratio at current prices is attractive but the
timing may not be right yet as no significant news or results has been
received or is expected for quite some time now.
The AGM itself was well attended by over 80 people by my count but
did not offer any hints of upcoming news or anticipated share price
movement. |
