INTERNATIONAL GOLDFIELDS LTD 11 August 2015
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Company Announcements Office Australian Securities Exchange Level 6, 20 Bridge Street
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Via E Lodgement
WINTER GARDEN GRANTED ALL REQUIRED GOVERNMENT LICENSES - PLANTING UNDERWAYInternational Goldfields Limited ("IGS") (ASX:IGS) is pleased to announce that Winter Garden Biosciences ("Winter Garden" or "WG") has obtained a range of key permits, licenses and authorisations from the Uruguayan government in recent days. The permits provide Winter Garden with the ability to import any and all varieties of hemp and cannabis Fativa-L (heirloom varieties), with no restrictions on cultivars and tonnage.
First Planting
Importantly Winter Garden has taken delivery of its first 1,000 kgs of seed and commenced planting of its maiden crop and preparation for control work in greenhouses.
WG is an emerging agriculture bioscience and biotechnology company in which IGS
has agreed to acquire an 85% interest (refer ASX announcement dated 1 May 2015).
With the approval of these licenses and planting underway, Winter Garden will become one of the first companies in the world to legally harvest and produce mass- market cannabis products.
Strategic License
The recently obtained licenses allow WG to scale up operations as part of its business plan and authorises Winter Garden:-
a) to harvest fibre, seeds and crops;
b) to prepare the products extracted from the crop in the same area where the harvest was performed; and
c) to extract oil within the facilities of the laboratory mentioned in the work
plan.
Michael Edwards
Chairman
David Tasker
Director
Travis Schwertfeger
Director
COMPANY SECRETARYJane Flegg
REGISTERED OFFICE AND PRINCIPLE PLACE OF BUSINESSGround Floor, 1 Havelock Street
WEST PERTH WA 6005
PO Box 684
WEST PERTH WA 6872
COMMUNICATION DETAILSTelephone: +61 8 9488 5220
Facsimile: +61 8 9324 2400
Web Address: www.intgold.com.au Email Address: info@intgold.com.au
AUSTRALIAN BUSINESS NUMBER69 099 544 680
SHARE REGISTRYAdvanced Share
Registry Services Pty Ltd
150 Stirling Hwy
Nedlands WA 6009
MEDIA CONTACTTony Dawe
PPR
T: 08 9388 0944
E: tony.dawe@ppr.com.au
ASX CODEIGS
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Importantly, the initial planting has commenced over an initial 7 hectares.
The importance of the seed planting program for Winter Garden cannot be underestimated in so far as underpinning its robust business model moving forward, which will be significantly scaled in subsequent plantings.
Jurisdictional Advantages
Uruguay is the only jurisdiction in the world that currently allows commercial registration of hemp cultivars without the cumbersome and limiting restrictions on THC and cannabiniod content. This will be the pivitol difference in WG's advantages moving forward as it will allow WG to be among the first producers in the world to plant high value, multi-purpose crops in the only jurisdiction to allow the actual registration and patenting of products and processes using these proprietary genetics.
Older varieties of hemp have tremendous value for seed, ballast, fibre, flower and soil reclamation research and development. In all current jurisdictions, they have chemically altered the composition of hemp to have very little commercial (non recreational) value by shortening the plant and breeding the chemicals out of the plant while trying to reduce the THC. The below 1% THC level is considered to be non-psychoactive but the DEA and FDA have lobbied the world to reduce that number to 0.03%. This has altered every aspect of the plant and it now requires more fertilisers and pesticides and is predacious on the soil while offering little research benefits for chemical expressions.
Winter Garden will now move to its commercial grow out and registration program with a significant number of negotiating parties who have been waiting for Winter Garden to commence its commercial agricultural and laboratory operations.
Harvest Revenue
In addition to the revenue derived from the registration activities referred to above, Winter Garden will also be deriving revenue from the harvesting and sales of base oils, seed extracts and fibre products. The initial 7 hectare grow out program will move within 6 months to approximately 50 hectares following completion of the IGS / Winter Garden acquisition. Winter Garden has access to over 1,000 hectares of arable land which can rapidly be deployed as the company commences commercial operations.
Based on conservative estimates, and looking at base oils, seed extracts and fibre products only, WG expects to generate returns of approx. US$550,000-600,000 per hectare.
"Gaining the approval of all necessary licenses is a significant milestone for Winter Garden Biosciences," said International Goldfields Director, David Tasker. "Uruguay is the first nation in the world to legalise the production and sale of non-synthetic cannabis products and Winter Garden has fully entrenched its first-mover advantage with the rapid submission and approval of these licenses."
"The approval by the Uruguayan government can also be seen as a strong commitment by local authorities to help
develop new products and intellectual property in this fledgling industry," he said.
With the approval of all necessary licenses, Winter Garden will now look to execute a number of commercial and research agreements which it has already negotiated to an advanced stage.
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Winter Garden Biosciences has also signed an exclusive, multi-year agreement with the Science Faculty of the
National University of Uruguay.
Operations Update as referred to above, WG is undertaking planting operations of 7 hectares of a heirloom variety seed, which is anticipated to produce high quality and high value protein and oil products.
This crop is on farm land currently leased by WG, and is adequately secured by fencing and a CCTV camera network. WG is also currently refurbishing a number of farm buildings, including the conversion of the old farmhouse into a number of small laboratories and storage facilities, offices and living quarters.
Winter Garden also possesses a laboratory building in Montevideo. The laboratory is now fully equipped with phytotrons and cell tissue research chambers, and is prepared to conduct first trials. Of note, these laboratory facilities are in the same complex as the Science Faculty of the National University of Uruguay, thus allowing the optimal synergies with respect to the cooperation agreement WG has with this Faculty.
Federal Uruguayan laws now facilitate the legal use and research cannabinoids containing a higher percentage of
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC).
As a result of the increase in permitted THC levels, WG is able to proceed with an unprecedented research program to be carried out at an industrial scale, of which will commence in earnest following the harvest of this initial crop and the cultivation and registration of valuable and unique species within the laboratory.
Julian Strauss, Winter Garden Biosciences President said: "This is an exciting time for Winter Garden." "We are developing products which may offer substantial relief for serious conditions such as nausea, depression and post- traumatic stress disorder. Globally, this is a very under-researched area so there is significant health advancements and investment opportunities which can be made" he said.
Corporate
With confirmation of key licences being granted, IGS and WG are in a position to finalise due diligence in the coming days, after which time a revised timetable for completion of the IGS/WG transaction will be circulated to all stakeholders.
For and on behalf of the board
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International Goldfields
Professional Public Relations
Tony Dawe
About Winter Garden Bioscience
Winter Garden Bioscience is an advanced developer of mass market non-synthetic cannabis products, and is focused on the production of cannabis extracts, derivatives, delivery systems and related intellectual property for sale into the rapidly growing international marketplace for therapeutic medicinal cannabis products.
Winter Garden Bioscience is fully licensed to export cannabinoid products, including its high-potency CBD extracts. The Company plans to primarily target wholesale distribution partners which have developed CBD based product lines in the United States, Canada and Europe. This includes pharmaceutical and nutraceutical companies, in addition to companies focused on the marijuana marketplace. Winter Garden will also look at making its products
available to retail consumers in North America and Europe which will supplement its wholesale revenues.
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