Company president and CEO Rick Shearer says the 2008 fiscal year was challenging for Black Bull, given the weakness of the North American housing market. “It became clear by early 2008 that the housing market was not strong enough to generate the quartz sales required to generate positive cash flow,” he said in a Black Bull news release. “The company developed three additional business models in early 2008 to respond: quartz stone for the Ferro silicon industry, low iron glass sand both for the solar panel industry, and kaolin clay for the paper industry. The company continued to take steps in the second half of 2008 to reduce costs as markets continued to deteriorate, including workforce reductions, suspension of processing operations at the East Kemptville mine and salary reductions for the entire management team.”
The company reported a net loss for the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2008 of $3,481,960 ($2,851,427 in 2007) or $0.038 per share ($0.045 in 2007).
In its release the company said it “is still pursuing sales of Ferro silicon and spending limited resources developing its kaolin business model. The care and maintenance operation will be financed through the collection of accounts receivable, selling remaining warehoused inventory and the sale of operating assets. By implementing the ROBP (reduced operations business plan), Black Bull believes that it will be able to care for and maintain its high quality mineral resource assets without requiring external funding for more than a year.”
