Sprott Resource Corp. Announces Q1 2012 Results

TORONTO, May 14, 2012 /CNW/ - (TSX: SCP) - Sprott Resource Corp. ("SRC" or the "Company") today announced financial results for the three-months ended March 31, 2012.

"During the quarter, we completed a US$50 million investment in Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. ("ICD"), a newly formed company that will provide land-based contract drilling services in the U.S. through a fleet of technologically advanced, newly constructed drill rigs," said Kevin Bambrough, President and CEO of Sprott Resource Corp. "This investment puts us in a position to capitalize on the emerging importance of shale oil and gas resource opportunities and their impact on domestic oil and gas production in the U.S."

"Waseca Energy Inc. ("Waseca") continued to increase  its output during the quarter, achieving an exit rate of production of 4,005 barrels of oil per day ("boe/d"), an improvement from 3,746 boe/d and 1,559 boe/d  at December 31, 2011 and March 31, 2011, respectively," said Paul Dimitriadis, Chief Operating Officer, Sprott Resource Corp.

"Subsequent to the end of the first quarter, One Earth Farms Corp. ("One Earth Farms") began seeding operations in Southern Alberta, seeding approximately 34 thousand acres to date" commented Steve Yuzpe, Chief Financial Officer of the Company. "In total, One Earth Farms expects to farm approximately 94,000 acres in 2012."

SRC 2011 Net Asset Value

The following table outlines SRC's net asset value as at March 31, 2012 and reflects the value at which individual items are carried on SRC's balance sheet as at such date.

		As at
(in thousands)		Mar. 31, 2012
Cash and Cash Equivalents^1		$	3,124
Gold Bullion^2		122,669
Other current assets		1,013
Consolidated investment in:^3
Waseca		44,201
OEOG (defined below)		10,593
One Earth Farms		46,149
Fair value investment in:
	WestFire (defined below)^4	147,347
	Guide (defined below)^5	36,725
	Union Agriculture Group^6	44,570
	Potash Ridge (defined below)^7	9,900
VA Uranium Holdings, Inc.		4,029
Other investments		7,877
Equity investment in:
	Stonegate Agricom (defined below)^8	16,593
	ICD^9	49,185
Liabilities
	Less: Current Liabilities^10	(53,357)
Less: Non-Current Liabilities		(11,751)
		$	478,867

1. This represents cash held at SRC or Sprott Resource Limited Partnership and does not include cash held within subsidiaries of SRC or investee companies.
2. As at March 31, 2012 SRC held 73,971 ounces of gold bullion valued at $1,658 per ounce.
3. Waseca, One Earth Oil and Gas Inc. ("OEOG") and One Earth Farms are controlled subsidiaries of SRC and are carried at their adjusted book value.
4. As at March 31, 2012, SRC owned 28.7 million shares of WestFire Energy Ltd. "WestFire") (common and non-voting convertible) valued at $5.14 per share.
5. As at March 31, 2012, SRC owned 16.8 million common shares of Guide Exploration Ltd. ("Guide") valued at $2.19 per share.
6. As at March 31, 2012, SRC owned 3.4 million common shares of Union Agriculture Group valued at $13.17 per share, which is the price at which Union Agriculture Group completed its last financing.
7. As at March 31, 2012, SRC owned 13.2 million common shares of Potash Ridge Corporation ("Potash Ridge") valued at $0.75 per share, which is the price at which Potash Ridge completed its last financing.
8. As at March 31, 2012, SRC owned 46.9 million common shares of Stonegate Agricom Ltd. ("Stonegate Agricom") valued at $0.37 per share.  The March 31, 2012 value of these shares was $0.60 per share.
9. As at March 31, 2012, SRC owned 2.5 million common shares of ICD.  ICD is not publicly listed and the Company equity accounts for this investment.
10. Included in Current Liabilities is the Company's Margin Account (defined below), arranged and drawn upon during the first quarter of 2012 to fund the ICD investment.  As at March 31, 2012, the outstanding balance of the loan was 49.9 million.

SRC Q1 2012 Financial Highlights

• SRC reported a net loss of $1.0 million for the three-months ended March 31, 2012 compared to net income of $14.6 million for the same period in 2011.
• Net assets (defined as total assets less total liabilities and non-controlling interest) attributable to the shareholders of the Company decreased to $478.9 million as at March 31, 2012 from $511.5 million as at December 31, 2011.
• For the three-months ended March 31, 2012, the Company purchased and cancelled 1.2 million common shares under its normal course issuer bid at an average cost of $4.02 per share for a total cost of $4.7 million. Subsequent to quarter end and to the date hereof, the Company purchased and cancelled 552 thousand common shares under the normal course issuer bid at an average cost of $3.99 per share for a total cost of $2.2 million.
• The Company recorded a fair value increase of $5.1 million in its physical gold bullion holdings during the period compared to a decrease of $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2011. As at March 31, 2012, the gold bullion had a fair market value of $122.7 million.
• On March 2, 2012, SRC invested US$50 million in Independence Contract Drilling, Inc. ("ICD"), a newly formed company that will provide land-based contract drilling services in the U.S. through a fleet of technologically advanced, newly constructed drill rigs.  SRC owns approximately 31.6% (undiluted) of ICD's outstanding common shares.

Achievements by SRC Subsidiaries and Investees for the three-months ended March 31, 2012 (and to the date hereof):

Waseca

• During the three months ended March 31, 2012, Waseca drilled 20 wells (20 net) and increased average production and the exit rate of production to 3,881 boe/d and 4,005 boe/d respectively from 1,253 boe/d and 1,559 boe/d respectively in the first quarter of 2011.
• Waseca generated an operating netback of $35.58 per boe in the first quarter of 2012, compared to $23.49 per boe in the same period of 2011. Operating netback as presented does not have any standardized meaning prescribed by International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") and, therefore, may not be comparable with the calculation of a similar measure presented by other entities. Please refer to the Non-IFRS Financial Measures section of this press release.

OEOG

• OEOG's oil, liquids and natural gas sales generated a netback of $18.50 per boe in the first quarter of 2012.
• For the three-months ended March 31, 2012, OEOG's average rate of production was 340 boe/d and its exit rate of production was 371 boe/d.

One Earth Farms

• For the three-months ended March 31, 2012 recorded a net loss of $3.2 million compared to a net loss of $3.8 million for the same period in 2011
• Grew its crop acres available to farm from 91 thousand in 2011 to approximately 94 thousand in 2012. Subsequent to quarter end, One Earth Farms began seeding operations in Southern Alberta, seeding approximately 34 thousand acres to date.
• Reduced livestock herd to 11,414 at March 31, 2012 from 13,703 at December 31, 2011, mainly as a result of sales.

Stonegate Agricom

• SRC recorded an equity loss of $460 thousand for the three-months ended March 31, 2012 on its investment in Stonegate Agricom, primarily due to general and administrative expenses.

ICD

• SRC recorded an equity loss of $780 thousand for the three-months ended March 31, 2012 on its investment in ICD, primarily due to general and administrative expenses, depreciation and amortization and manufacturing expenses and overhead.
• ICD has one rig currently deployed and a second rig expected in the second quarter.

About Sprott Resource Corp.

SRC is a Canadian-based company, the primary purpose of which is to invest and operate in natural resources through its subsidiaries.  Through acquisitions, joint ventures and other investments, SRC seeks to provide its shareholders with exposure to the natural resource sector for the purposes of capital appreciation and real wealth preservation. SRC is well positioned to draw upon the considerable experience and expertise of both its Board of Directors and Sprott Consulting LP (SCLP), of which Sprott Inc. is the sole limited partner.  Pursuant to a management services agreement between SCLP and SRC, SCLP provides day-to-day business management for SRC as well as other management and administrative services.  SRC invests and operates through Sprott Resource Partnership (SRP), a partnership between SRC and Sprott Resource Consulting Limited Partnership, an affiliate of SCLP which is the managing partner of SRP.

Forward Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements including those relating to expected land to be farmed and harvested by One Earth Farms. Forward-looking information looks into the future and provides an opinion as the effect of certain events and trends on the business of SRC. Forward-looking statements look into the future and provide an opinion as to the effect of certain events and trends on the business. These forward looking statements are based on current expectations and various estimates, factors and assumptions including the successful crop harvest by One Earth Farms.    All forward-looking information is inherently uncertain and subject to a variety of risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause SRC's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those expressed or implied from such information, including general economic, market and business conditions; changes in environmental and other regulations; weather risk associated with farming operations; operational risk associated with farming; commodity price changes; and other risks, which are beyond the control of the Company or its subsidiaries.

SRC has attempted to identify important factors that could cause its results, performance and achievements to differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking information contained in this news release. However, there can be other factors that cause results, performance and achievements not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate or that management's expectations or estimates of future developments, circumstances or results will materialize. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking information contained in this news release. SRC does not intend, and does not assume any obligation, to update these forward-looking information contained in this news release except as required by law. For a description of additional material factors that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements, please see the risks and uncertainties set out in the "Forward-Looking Statements" section and "Risk Factors" section in the Company's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2011.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Throughout this press release, the Company uses the term "netback". This term does not have any standardized meaning as prescribed by IFRS and, therefore, may not be comparable with the calculation of similar measures presented by other issuers. Netback is calculated on a per boe basis as oil and gas sales, less royalties and operating and transportation expenses. Netback is used by management to measure operating results on a per boe basis to better analyze performance against prior periods on a comparable basis.

Information Regarding Disclosure on Oil and Gas Information

Where amounts are expressed in a barrel of oil equivalent ("boe"), or barrel of oil equivalent per day ("boe/d"), natural gas volumes have been converted to barrels of oil equivalent on the basis that 6 thousand cubic feet ("mcf") is equal to one barrel of oil. Use of the term boe may be misleading, particularly if used in isolation. This boe conversion ratio is based on an energy equivalence methodology, and does not represent a value equivalency.  Indeed, the energy and value relationships may differ widely with market conditions. The conversion conforms to the Canadian Securities Regulators' National Instrument 51-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Oil and Gas Activities.

The future net revenue estimates in this news release do not represent fair market value.

 

Stephen Yuzpe
Chief Financial Officer
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