Shefa Gems Regulatory News (SEFA)

B"H

14 March 2019

Shefa Yamim (A.T.M.) Ltd

("Shefa Yamim" or the "Company")

Full Year Results for the year ended 31st December 2018

Shefa Yamim (LSE: SEFA), a precious stones exploration Company in Northern Israel, is pleased to announce its full year results for the year ended 31 December 2018. 

2018 Highlights

Avi Taub, CEO of Shefa Yamim, said: "It has been a year of excellent progress for Shefa Yamim which has seen the Company reach several key milestones. We advanced exploration in our primary target, the Kishon Mid-Reach by completing exploration campaigns in Zone 1, with a further campaign planned in Zone 2 in Q2 and Q3 2019. Exploration results saw a significant increase in the estimated volume of mineralised tonnage from a total of 1.1 Mt to almost 5 Mt in the Kishon Mid-Reach, which triples the potential quantity of our rare and diverse Gem Box of precious stones. In addition, Carmeltazite, a mineral discovered by Shefa Yamim and found in our gemstone the Carmel Sapphire™, has been internationally recognised by the IMA as a new, rare mineral in nature, which we believe further adds potential value to our suite of gemstones.

"Looking ahead, it has been an excellent start to 2019 most notably with the completion of the Technical Economic Evaluation report, which provides a base case for the development of the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1 project, and the launch of Yossi Harari's unique "Heaven on Earth" jewellery collection using Shefa Yamim gemstones. Following our first full year as a listed company, Shefa Yamim is more advanced and in a stronger position to pursue its twin-track strategy of advancing exploration in the Kishon Mid-Reach towards trial mining, whilst continuing to pursue our "Mine to Market" strategy which includes producing unique jewellery with our precious stones."

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Enquiries

Overview 

In the Company's first full year since listing on the London Stock Exchange in December 2017, Shefa Yamim achieved a number of significant milestones. There was excellent progress in both its exploration activity and its mine to market strategy, most notably with the completion of the TEE report and the launch of the Company's first and exclusive jewellery collection, created by world-renowned designer Yossi Harari.

Operational Review

Technical Economic Evaluation Report

In July 2018, Shefa Yamim appointed Paradigm Project Management ("PPM") to conduct an independent Technical Economic Evaluation ("TEE") for the first mine of the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1, which was completed in February 2019. The report, which places the first mine in Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1 at the lower end of the cost curve, provides the Company with the work and capital costs of bringing the Kishon Mid-Reach project into production which gives Shefa Yamim a base case for the development of the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1 project.

In addition, due to earlier investments in the machinery and processing capability by Shefa Yamim, for a further relatively small amount of investment, the Company will be able to upgrade its new processing plant and machinery, which will double its processing capacity and potentially halve the unit operating cost once in steady state operations.

A summary of the key points are as follows:

PPM is a South African project management and engineering company with extensive experience in carrying out due diligence work as well as managing and executing projects within the mining sector. PPM led the breakthrough mine and processing plant design for Lucara Diamonds Inc at Karowe Mine (formerly the AK6 project) and more recently for Newfield Resources on the Tongo diamond project in Sierra Leone.

Heaven on Earth jewellery collection

In 2018, Shefa Yamim entered into a collaboration with Yossi Harari, the world-renowned jewellery designer, to create a unique jewellery collection and the world's first collection using precious stones from the Kishon Mid-Reach area. In February 2019, the "Heaven on Earth" collection was completed and comprises of 31 unique, handcrafted, individual pieces of jewellery, 13 more than was originally planned, creating a uniquely designed and branded jewellery line mounted with Shefa Yamim's precious gemstones from the Kishon Mid-Reach area.

The collection includes 11 necklaces, 10 rings, 4 pendants, 4 pairs of earrings and 2 bracelets. Harari had originally planned to create 18 pieces but created an additional 13 pieces as a result of the variety, sizes and quality of Shefa Yamim's gemstones capability to be adapted in such a wide range of jewellery. The prices for each piece of jewellery in this collection will range from $1,000 to $85,000.

The collaboration with Yossi Harari is a significant step and forms part of Shefa Yamim's mine to market development strategy, which includes exploration, mining, as well as designing and selling jewellery pieces containing its gemstones.

Kishon Mid-Reach

The Kishon Mid-Reach placer is the Company's most advanced exploration project and ongoing exploration activities are being undertaken with the aim of defining a SAMREC 2016 compliant Mineral Resource. The target is 4.5km long and approximately 150 metres wide (right bank of the Kishon) with gravel layers of variable thicknesses between 0.5m and 4.5m. The TMA Suite includes the following gemstones; Diamond (rare), Spinel, Carmel Sapphire™, Sapphire, Ruby, Natural Moissanite™, Hibonite, Garnet, Ilmenite, Zircon and Rutile are found within the gravel layers.

Zone 1 Bulk Sampling

In May 2018, Shefa Yamim completed its bulk sampling campaign in Zone 1 of the Kishon Mid-Reach following 137 drilling surveys and fourteen-bulk sample campaign.

Following the results, the Company updated its Target Mineral Assemblage ("TMA"). The TMA recovered from the 6,384 tonnes sampling campaign in Zone 1 increased from a total of 5,825.24 carats ("cts") to a new total of approximately 9,778.15 cts enabling the original TMA to be updated to a predominantly gemstone suite (99.5%) of potentially nine gemstone minerals, including the new addition of Spinel, often found in large crystals.

The largest gems recovered were: Natural Moissanite™ 4.14mm, Carmel Sapphire™ 33.3ct, garnet 13.6ct, sapphire 5.7ct, spinel 6.2ct, hibonite 2.8ct and ruby 1.7ct. The overall TMA grade was some 153 cpht (at a bottom screen size of 1 mm), with the grade dominated by 4 Gem Box suite minerals: spinel (69.91 cpht); Carmel Sapphire™ (39.36 cpht); garnet (34.09 cpht) and ilmenite (12.06 cpht).

Zone 2 Bulk Sampling

Progress continued in 2018 on exploration in Zone 2 to determine the potential resource for the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 2.

In July 2018, Shefa Yamim announced the first results from bulk sample BS-1230, the first of five bulk samples collected at the end of 2017. Post period, in January 2019, the processing results for the remaining four bulk samples 1223, 1224, 1225, 1229, were completed.

A total of five bulk samples resulted in 3,935.60 cts of gemstones recovered from 2,908.8 tonnes ('t') of basal gravels with an overall TMA recovered grade of 135.30 carats per hundred tonnes ("cpht") at a bottom screen size of 1mm.

A selection of the largest gemstones recovered included a Natural Moissanite™ 4.1mm, 3.90 ct Sapphire, 5.26 ct Carmel Sapphire™, 6.68 ct spinel and a 3.61 ct garnet. The variety of gemstones recovered is consistent with previous bulk sample results strengthening Shefa Yamim's position as a multi-commodity company.

In Q2 and Q3 2019, the Company plans to carry out an additional three bulk samples in Zone 2 in the area where 26 drilling surveys were completed in June 2018. These three bulk samples planned by Shefa Yamim will conclude its exploration activity in Zone 2, preparing the Company for progress towards trial mining.

Processing and exploration

New and rare mineral found in nature

In December 2018, the Company received official international recognition on a new mineral in nature named Carmeltazite, discovered by Shefa Yamim and found in its gemstone, the Carmel Sapphire™. Carmeltazite was recognised and approved as a new mineral by the International Mineralogical Association ("IMA") Commission on New Minerals, Nomenclature and Classification, as stated in the published article entitled Carmeltazite, ZrAl2Ti4O11, a New Mineral Trapped in Corundum from Volcanic Rocks of Mt Carmel, Northern Israel. The Company has already received a trademark from the Israeli Government to market the stones under the name "Carmel Sapphire". Carmeltazite was given its name due to its location of discovery on Mt Carmel ("CARMEL"), and due to its major chemical components, namely, Titanium, Aluminum and Zirconium ("TAZ").

Upgraded TMA and expanded Gem-Box suite

In July 2018, following the results of its 137 drilling surveys and 14 bulk sampling campaign at the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1, Shefa Yamim announced the addition of a ninth gemstone to its Gem-Box suite, spinel. The inclusion of spinel, as well as ilmenite and garnet to the Company's Gem-Box suite, follows a re-classification of these gemstones which were deemed to be of high enough quality to be considered 'gemstones'.

Permo-Triassic-Jurassic rocks

As announced in February 2018, the results of studies conducted by Macquarie University, led by Professor William Griffin, provided a clearer understanding of why Shefa Yamim has been able to find a suite of gemstones in its exploration area, including Natural Moissanite™ and Carmel Sapphire™. The analysis revealed that besides zircons from the known volcanoes on Mount Carmel, the alluvial samples also contain zircons from other Cretaceous eruptions. The research implies that there are other primary sources of gemstones yet to be found in the area surrounding Mount Carmel and the Kishon River.

Permits

In August 2018, Shefa Yamim received its first Prospecting Licence (869C9), granted for diamonds, gold and precious stones in the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1 that covers an area of 252 Dunams (25.2 hectares). The licence is another important step towards a 'Certificate of Discovery' and its first mining licence. Once the working plan, according to the Prospecting Licence requirements have been met, the Company will apply for a 'Certificate of Discovery', providing the Company with exclusive rights over a mining licence.

In addition, the Company renewed Exploration Permit (869B8) that covers an area of 173,636 Dunams (17.3636 hectares) and two of its prospecting permits (837A12 and 899A7) covering a total of 440,455 Dunams (44,045 hectares). The permits provide the Company with exclusive prospecting rights for diamonds, gold and precious stones over the permitted areas for a period of a year and entitles the Company to conduct all required actions connected with prospecting for the minerals specified above.

Financial Review

Over the last 12 months, the Company recorded a profit of TNIS (in thousands) 6,009 (2017: TNIS 16,258 loss), equating to a profit of NIS 0.422 (2017: 1.703 loss) per share. TNIS 6,009 are attributed to financial income due to adjustment of the value of a financial liability at fair value, net of general and administrative expenses. At the end of the year, the Company's cash and cash equivalents stood at TNIS 209.

As previously stated, Shefa Yamim is in a similar position to many exploration companies and is not expected to generate revenues at this stage of its development. As such the Company frequently needs to raise further capital as it progresses towards trial mining and commencement of commercial mining.

In view of past experience, the Company believes that it continues to have access to loans from certain supportive shareholders who have provided funds previously and have indicated that they will be in a position to do so again, should the Company require it.

The Company recently appointed SI Capital Limited ("SI Capital") as sole broker and strategic advisor to the Company. SI Capital will be assisting Shefa Yamim as broker to interact with the market and shareholders as Shefa Yamim moves towards its objective to begin commercial mining and generating revenues.

Outlook

Looking ahead to 2019, the TEE report provides Shefa Yamim with an important base case for the development of the Kishon Mid-Reach Zone 1 project as the Company continues to progress towards trail mining in Zone 1. The collaboration with Yossi Harari and the recent launch of the "Heaven on Earth" jewellery collection is an important step and will play a significant part in Shefa Yamim's Mine to Market development strategy, which includes exploration, mining, as well as designing and selling its jewelry pieces containing gemstones from the Holy Land.

The next steps for the Company will be to:

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