CALGARY, ALBERTA–(Marketwired – Dec. 18, 2013) –
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Pine Cliff Energy Ltd. (“Pine Cliff” or the “Company“) (TSX VENTURE:PNE) is pleased to announce its 2014 guidance and to provide an operational update on both its oil and gas and mineral divisions.
2014 Guidance
Pine Cliff remains committed to an accretive acquisition program in 2014 while continuing to focus on maintaining a strong balance sheet, which includes minimal or no debt. Pine Cliff’s Board of Directors has approved a 2014 capital budget of $12.5 million, primarily to drill five gross (1.7 net) non-operated wells in the Carrot Creek core area in the latter half of 2014. This program is anticipated to be substantially less than the Company’s estimated 2014 funds flow from operations, which remains dependent on natural gas prices. Pine Cliff is projecting production volumes in 2014 of 6,100 to 6,500 barrels of oil equivalent (“boe“) per day, representing a 37% increase over the 2013 production guidance of 4,350 to 4,850 boe per day.
Oil and Gas Division Update
In the fourth quarter of 2013, Pine Cliff finished drilling and completing two gross (1.25 net) gas wells which were brought on production in November 2013. Results from these wells will be provided at a later date after the flush production period has ended.
Minerals Division Update
Pine Cliff completed its review of the second phase of drilling on the King’s Canyon gold property located in Utah, United States during the fourth quarter of 2013. The exploration results to date have been encouraging enough that Pine Cliff exercised its option to acquire a 100% interest on a claim block (the “Option“) (which includes the historical, but presently non-compliant National Instrument 43-101 Standards for Disclosure for Mineral Projects, 200,000 ounces of gold mineral resource in the Crown Zone). Pine Cliff closed the purchase of the Option on December 18, 2013 for US$200,000 after negotiating a reduced purchase price from the original US$1,000,000 exercise price. Additional exploration activities will be necessary to justify a commercially viable heap leach project and due to the current low price of gold, the Company does not plan to incur any further capital expenditures on the property in 2014.
On December 18, 2013, Pine Cliff entered into an option agreement with Nighthawk Gold Corp. (“Nighthawk“) for the disposition of its Kim gold property, located approximately 200 kilometers north of the City of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. Pine Cliff received a 2.5% net smelter royalty (of which 1.5% can be repurchased by Nighthawk for $1,500,000) and $1,550,000, with payments to be spread out over the next three years. The first payment of $250,000 was received on December 18, 2013 ($125,000 cash and 1,768,345 common shares of Nighthawk). Nighthawk will not earn an interest in the property until all amounts have been paid. At the sole option of Nighthawk, one-half of the payments may be satisfied by issuing common shares, which are listed and posted for trading on a recognized stock exchange in Canada.
About Pine Cliff
Further information relating to Pine Cliff may be found on www.sedar.com as well as on Pine Cliff’s website at www.pinecliffenergy.com.
Cautionary Statements
Certain statements contained in this release include statements which contain words such as “anticipate”, “could”, “should”, “expect”, “seek”, “may”, “intend”, “likely”, “will”, “believe” and similar expressions, statements relating to matters that are not historical facts, and such statements of our beliefs, intentions and expectations about development, results and events which will or may occur in the future, constitute “forward-looking information” within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation