Golden Queen Announces Financial Results and Review of Operations for the Second Quarter of 2014

VANCOUVER, Aug. 11, 2014 /PRNewswire/ - Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. (TSX:GQM; OTCQX:GQMNF) (the "Company") is pleased to announce its financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2014.  Management's discussion and analysis of the Company's financial condition and results of operations are described in the Form 10-Q, which will be available on the Company's website at www.goldenqueen.com, on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on EDGAR at www.sec.gov.  Amounts are shown in U.S. dollars.

In the second quarter of 2014, Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd. reported the following accomplishments:

• Announced a proposed joint venture transaction with Gauss LLC; 
• Completed the construction of the workshop-warehouse on budget;
• Completed site grading and site preparation of the area where the crushing-screening plant will be built; and
• Further advanced detailed engineering work

Financial Highlights

During the second quarter ended June 30, 2014, the Company reported a net loss of $0.7 million (or $0.01 basic per share), compared to net income of $1.2 million (or $0.01 basic per share) for the corresponding period in 2013.  This change is due in part to significantly higher general and administrative expenses incurred in the second quarter of 2014.

The Company had $24.4 million in assets, including $5.1 million in cash, and a working capital deficit of $7.5 million at June 30, 2014, compared with $15.8 million in assets, including $5.0 million in cash, and a working capital balance of $3.6 million at December 31, 2013.

The Company incurred general and administrative expenses of $2.1 million during the three months ended June 30, 2014, compared to $0.5 million for the same period in 2013.  This increase is due to the Company's financing efforts and an increase in corporate activities both at the Company's head office and on site as the Company continues to prepare the site for production.

The Company capitalized development costs of $5.0 million in the second quarter of 2014, compared to development costs of $1.5 million for the corresponding period in 2013.  Construction costs included $0.9 million towards the workshop-warehouse, $0.6 million in engineering costs, $0.5 million for the crushing-screening plant site preparation and $0.4 million in site development.  The Company also spent $0.8 million to acquire mineral property interests.  The capitalized development costs include $1.0 million in capitalized interest costs.

The results for the second quarter of 2014 are summarized in the table below:

In thousand $, except per share data

Shareholders are reminded that the Company has no revenues from mining operations as its gold and silver Project is not yet in production.

Financial results discussed in this news release for the quarters ended June 30, 2014 and June 30, 2013 have been reviewed by the Company's independent accountants.

Construction Update

Construction of the Soledad Mountain Project proceeded well during the second quarter of 2014.

The $10 million advance from Gauss LLC (see the news release of July 2, 2014) allowed the Company to commit to several pre-construction activities on site, including:

• Confirmed an order for a high-pressure grinding roll with ThyssenKrupp Industrial Solutions (USA), Inc. (formerly Polysius Corporation) and made the initial deposit of ~$1 million in July;
• Construction of the assay laboratory building;
• Construction of the Phase 1 water supply;
• Detailed engineering of the conveying and stacking system;
• Site grading where the Merrill-Crowe plant will be constructed;
• Test program to determine the parameters for the clay-tailings mix that will be used to construct the lower liner of the Phase 1, Stage 1 heap leach pad; and
• Construct the heap leach facilities pump box.

Proposed Joint Venture

The Company announced a proposed joint venture transaction with Gauss LLC in a news release on June 9, 2014.  Details of the joint venture transaction are disclosed in a proxy statement on Schedule 14A that was filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") and certain Canadian securities regulators on July 31, 2014.  A copy of the proxy statement is available at www.sedar.com and on the Company's website at www.goldenqueen.com.

The Company will hold an Extraordinary Meeting of Shareholders on Tuesday, September 9, 2014 at the Pan Pacific Hotel, Coal Harbour Room (999 Canada Place Way, Vancouver, British Columbia) at 10:00am PDT for the purpose of seeking disinterested shareholder approval of the joint venture with Gauss LLC.  Shareholders will be required to submit their proxies before the proxy cut-off of 10:00am PDT on Friday, September 5, 2014. The record date of the meeting was July 31, 2014.

The Board of Directors recommends a vote in favor of the joint venture.

About Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd:

The Company is developing a gold-silver, open pit, heap leach operation on its fully-permitted Soledad Mountain property, located just outside the town of Mojave in Kern County in southern California.  The Project will use conventional open pit mining methods and the cyanide heap leach and Merrill-Crowe processes to recover gold and silver from crushed, agglomerated ore. 

Technical information in this news release was approved by H. Lutz Klingmann, President, and a Qualified Person as defined under NI 43-101.

Caution With Respect To Forward-looking Statements:  The information in this news release includes certain "forward-looking statements".  All statements in this news release, other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, plans for and intentions with respect to construction and other development activities on the Soledad Mountain Project, future mining operations on the Project, the proposed joint venture and other statements, estimates and plans, are forward-looking statements.  There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from statements in this news release regarding our intentions include the uncertainties involving the approval of the joint venture; risks of construction and mining such as accidents, equipment breakdowns, non-compliance with environmental and permit requirements, and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2013 and in our Quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2014.  Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and, accordingly, should not to put undue reliance on forward-looking statements.  Any forward-looking statement made by us in this release is based only on information currently available to us and speaks only as of the date on which it is made.

The Company's solicitation of proxies in connection with the extraordinary meeting of shareholders set to approve the joint venture transaction is detailed in the proxy statement filed with the SEC and available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.

SHAREHOLDERS ARE ADVISED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT WHEN IT IS DISTRIBUTED TO SHAREHOLDERS BECAUSE IT WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION.

Shareholders can obtain a free-of-charge copy of the proxy statement and other relevant documents filed with the SEC from the SEC's website at www.sec.gov.  The proxy statement and other relevant documents have also been filed with certain Canadian securities regulators and available free-of-charge at www.sedar.com.  Shareholders can also obtain a free-of-charge copy of the proxy statement and other relevant documents by directing a request by email to Brenda Dayton at [email protected], by telephone to (604) 921-7570 or by mail to Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd, 6411 Imperial Ave., West Vancouver, BC, Canada, V7W 2J5.

The Company and its directors and executive officers will be participants in the solicitation of proxies from the shareholders. Information about the Company's directors and executive officers, including their shareholdings, is set forth in the proxy statement for the Company's 2014 Annual Meeting of Stockholders, which was filed with the SEC on April 30, 2014.  Investors may obtain additional information regarding the interest of such participants by reading the proxy statement.

SOURCE Golden Queen Mining Co. Ltd.