Wishbone Gold Plc / Index: AIM / Epic: WSBN / Sector: Natural Resources

5 August 2013

Wishbone Gold Plc ('Wishbone Gold' or 'the Company')

Interim Results

Wishbone Gold Plc, an exploration and acquisition company focussed on precious metals, is pleased to announce its results for the six month period ended 30 June 2013.

Highlights:

?        Progress made towards delivering on strategy to acquire and advance portfolio of highly prospective gold projects

?        Two additional exploration tenements, Wishbone III and Wishbone IV, covering an area of 23,600 hectares adjacent to existing Wishbone II licence applied for and Wishbone IV has been granted

?        Current portfolio of four licences cover 34,700 hectares in north east Queensland, a proven gold bearing region

?        Two high grade prospects identified at Wishbone II located on known gold bearing trends following sampling programmes

?        Completion of further exploration programme at White Mountain licence - results due to be released shortly

?        Beaufort Securities Limited appointed as joint broker to increase exposure in the investment community together with Shore Capital Stockbrokers Limited

Executive Chairman's Statement

The six months under review neatly encapsulate the strategy and processes we have put in place at Wishbone Gold to acquire and prove up a portfolio of licences located in known areas of gold mineralisation and, in the process, seek to generate substantial value for shareholders.  During this period, we applied for two additional exploration permits, Wishbone III and Wishbone IV, doubling the number of projects within our highly prospective portfolio and trebling the area that we hold to 34,700 hectares in north east Queensland, a region known for significant precious metal mineralisation.  At the same time we completed the second phase of an on-going exploration programme designed to identify and define the prospectivity of our original licences, Wishbone II and White Mountain.  The results received so far have been highly encouraging. 

Wishbone Gold is not a wildcat explorer.  From the outset we look to acquire licences that are located in proven areas of gold or precious metals mineralisation where firstly, considerable historic data exists, and secondly, is readily available.  From this position we seek to apply modern exploration evaluation techniques to the existing information and secondly, to enhance existing information with primary research in order to establish more accurate valuations and a viable exploration strategy.  By focusing on producing or previously producing areas the board believes it can de-risk the exploration phase considerably.  Located adjacent to our Wishbone II licence in north-east Queensland, an established gold region, the two newly acquired Wishbone III and Wishbone IV licences, match our criteria well. 

An active de-risking process is applied to all licences before they are applied for, let alone secured.  In line with this, all historical data associated with Wishbone III and IV was subjected to a comprehensive review and analysis which enabled a geological model to be constructed prior to the commencement of any exploration activity on the ground. In the case of Wishbone IV, now the largest of our existing licences covering an area of 20,000 hectares contiguous to Wishbone II to the east and to the north, the licence area includes the east-west trending Alex Hill Shear Zone and associated areas containing NE and NW trending faulted structures, and related splay faults.  The area is located along the same major trend held by Resolute Mining Ltd ('Resolute Mining'), approximately 15km to the west of Wishbone II, where substantial gold mineralisation at depth has been discovered at the Welcome Deposit.

Not only does the extensive work we carry out prior to securing licences ensure that we acquire high quality projects, it also provides key information that we put to good use when embarking on an exploration programme, allowing us to hit the ground running.  With this in mind, the Company commissioned Terra Search Pty Ltd to undertake surface exploration activities on both the Wishbone II and White Mountain tenements which combined cover a total area of 11,100 hectares.  

Results for Wishbone II were recently announced post period end while those for White Mountain are due shortly.  With regards to Wishbone II, during the period Terra Search carried out a ground exploration programme on the licence which included magnetic surveying over major features and large scale deep-seated structures.  Geological prospecting and surface geochemical sampling (soil, stream sediment and rock chips) were also carried out over selected accessible target areas. 

To date, the results of this work have identified two prospects at Wishbone II, Hanging Valley and Oaky Mill.  Validating our investment criteria, both prospects are associated with known gold-bearing structures:  Hanging Valley is located on the NE Structure that trends toward the Blue Doe historical gold mining area; while Oaky Mill's structure is located along a trend that runs northwest from the producing Mt. Wright gold mine to the south.  As part of the exploration programme, sampling was carried out at both prospects and in each case high gold grades were returned that are consistent with the historical data. 

Having identified two prospects at Wishbone II, the next phase of exploration activity on the licence will look to further define Oaky Mill, Hanging Valley and the NE Structure for the purpose of establishing potential drilling targets.  This is likely to involve additional geological traversing, prospecting and surface geochemical sampling to augment and infill the coverage in the area.  The regional nature of both the Alex Hill Shear Zone and the Hanging Valley structure suggest that gold mineralisation, if present, could be significant.  The read across for our newly acquired Wishbone III and Wishbone IV tenements is clear and with this in mind, we look forward to embarking on an exploration programme at each of our newly acquired licences.

Financial Overview

?        The Company incurred losses of US$295,505 (30 June 2012 US$ 73,406, 31 December 2012 US$ 284,162) in pursuing the exploration of the tenements it owns in Queensland 

?        The Company incurred losses per share of US$0.17 cents (30 June 2012: US$0.07 cents, 31 December 2012: US$0.2 cents)

?        Two additional exploration permits adjoining Wishbone II, Wishbone III and Wishbone IV, covering an area of 23,600 hectares, were applied for and Wishbone IV has already been granted.  The expenditure commitments arising from these additional tenements for the next 5 years from their grant date anniversaries are expected to be approximately US$178,423 for each tenement.  These obligations are subject to periodic renegotiations

?         These activities have depleted the net assets to US$191,349 (30 June 2012 US$ (8,713), 31 December 2012 US$550,152) as the Group spends the funds it raised on exploring the assets which have been acquired

?        The cash balances of the group are US$292,842 (30 June 2012 US$366,504, 31 December 2012 US$589,116)

Post balance sheet events:

?        11,841,307 new ordinary shares were issued on 2 July 2013 to the Directors of the Company to convert liabilities of ?207,223 due to the Directors for fees and expenses.

?        The net assets of the group increased by US$315,446 on 2 July 2013 as a result of the liabilities to the Directors being extinguished.

Outlook

Our existing portfolio now includes four licences which are highly prospective for gold and other precious metals.   We do not intend to stop here.  Our aim is for Wishbone Gold to be a global consolidator of quality gold assets around the world.  In our view the current gold price is largely being driven by technical factors and does not reflect favourable long term supply and demand fundamentals that we believe will see the gold price resume its uptrend and, fuelled by currency depreciation and runaway inflation concerns, set new highs.  For an acquirer of gold assets such as Wishbone Gold, today's gold price represents an attractive entry point as we look to add to our asset base further. 

As demonstrated by the considerable progress made at our two original licences, once secured we move quickly to explore and prove up a project area's prospectivity.  We have now conducted two phases of exploration activity on Wishbone II and White Mountain and two high grade prospects have been identified at Wishbone II.  Future exploration at Wishbone II will be geared towards further defining these prospects to drill ready status.   The next six months promise to be an exciting period for the Company and I look forward to providing updates on our progress in due course.

Richard Poulden

Chairman

2 August 2013

Consolidated Income Statement

for the six months ended 30 June 2013

Consolidated Statement of Comprehensive Income

for the six months ended 30 June 2013

Consolidated Statement of Financial Position

at 30 June 2013

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity

for the six months ended 30 June 2013

Consolidated Statement of Changes in Equity (Continued)

for the six months ended 30 June 2013

Foreign exchange reserve records exchanges differences, which arise on translation of foreign operations with a functional currency other than US Dollars; principally Pounds Sterling and Australian Dollars.

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows

for the six months ended 30 June 2013

Notes to Unaudited Interim Financial Information

                         for the period ended 30 June 2013

1         Basis of preparation

The interim financial information in this report has been prepared using accounting policies consistent with IFRS as adopted by the European Union.  IFRS is subject to amendment and interpretation by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Financial Reporting Interpretations Committee (IFRIC) and there is an on going process of review and endorsement by the European Commission.  The financial information has been prepared on the basis of IFRS that the Directors expect to be adopted by the European Union and applicable to the Group as at 31 December 2012.

The accounting policies applied are consistent with those of the consolidated financial information for the Group for the year ended 31 December 2012.

The operations of Wishbone Gold Plc are not affected by seasonal variations.

The directors do not recommend the payment of a dividend (30 June 2012: Nil).

             Non-statutory accounts

The financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2013 set out in this interim report does not comprise the Group's statutory accounts.

Audited consolidated financial information for the year ended 31 December 2012 has been extracted from the consolidated financial information on the Group for the year then ended. Full accounts for the Company have been filed in Gibraltar.

The financial information for the six months ended 30 June 2013 and 30 June 2012 is unaudited.

Segmental Analysis

Management has determined the operating segments by considering the business from both a geographic and product perspective. For management purposes, the Group is currently organised into one operating division; resource evaluation. This division is the business segment for which the Group reports its segment information internally to the Board of Directors. The Group's operations are predominantly in Australia.