SEC Company Response from ANOORAQ RESOURCES CORP (CIK 0001028277) — Oct 28, 2005
ANOORAQ RESOURCES CORP (CIK 0001028277)
Date: Oct. 28, 2005 · CIK: 0001028277 · Accession: 0001062993-05-002554
AI Filing Summary & Sentiment
File numbers found in text: 001-31930
Referenced dates: September 6, 2005
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Filed by Automated Filing Services Inc. (604) 609-0244 - Anooraq Resources Corporation - SEC Response Letter
1020 • 800 West Pender Street
Vancouver, BC Canada V6C 2V6
Tel (604) 684 • 6365 Fax (604) 684 • 8092
1 800 667 • 2114
October 27, 2005
Mr. Yong Choi
United States Securities and Exchange
Commission
Division of Corporation Finance
Mail Stop 7010
Washington, DC 20549-7010
Via EDGAR CORRESPONDENCE
RE:
ANOORAQ RESOURCES CORPORATION
FORM 20-F FOR THE FOURTEEN MONTHS ENDED
DECEMBER 31, 2004
FILED JULY 15, 2005
FILE NO. 001-31930
Dear Mr. Choi:
We acknowledge receipt of your Comment Letter dated September
6, 2005 in respect of Form 20-F filed by Anooraq Resources Corporation (the
"Company") for the year ended December 31, 2004. In a previous discussion, we
had indicated we would be responding by October 27, 2005. Your comments are
in italics to the left, our responses to the right.
Comment
Response
1.
Selected Financial Data, page 8
This has been clarified on page 8 of the amended 20-F.
We note you stated
that the company’s annual financial statements have been audited
by its independent registered public accounting firm, KPMG
LLP. This statement infers annual financial statements for all
five years presented have been audited by KPMG LLP. Please
clarify your statement to reflect the periods audited by De
Visser Gray.
-2-
Comment
Response
2.
Financial Statements, page 86
These will be attached.
Please include
the audit reports from your current and prior independent registered
public accounting firms.
The KPMG LLP opinion on the
financial statements for the 14-month fiscal year ended December 31, 2004
are attached within Exhibit 15.6
The De Visser Gray opinion on
the financial statements for the year ended October 31, 2003 are attached
as Exhibit 15.9.
3.
Exhibits 15.7
and 15.8
The cover sheet was incorrect
and has been amended.
The consolidated
financial statements referenced on the cover page of Exhibit 15.8
do not correspond to consolidated financial statements included
in the exhibit. Please revise as necessary.
4.
We note you
included unaudited consolidated financial statements as of and
for the twelve months ended October 31, 2004 and for the two
months ended December 31, 2004 and three months ended January
31, 2003. Please be advised that the two months ended December
31, 2004 and three months ended January 31, 2003 are not comparative.
We also note you included unaudited consolidated financial
statements for the three months ended October 31, 2004 and 2003.
Please tell us when you elected to change your fiscal year end
and your basis for including these financial statements for
purposes of complying with transition reporting requirements.
As a result of a significant
acquisition in September 2004, the Company elected at that time to change
its year end to December 31, in order to align its reporting cycles with
its new, much larger, joint venture partner.
The Company's former year end was October 31, and the
Company did have a review done by its auditors for the twelve month period
ended October 31, 2004 and a formal audit for the 14 month period ended
December 31, 2004.
Because the financial statements for the 12 months ended
October 31, 2004 had been reviewed we felt the higher degree of confidence
provided by these financial statements (versus transition period statements
for the 2 months ended December 31, 2003, which had not been reviewed
nor audited) would be appropriate.
-3-
Comment
Response
Your transition period appears to be
between November 1, 2003 and December 31, 2003, the period
between the closing of your most recent fiscal year and the opening
date of your newly selected fiscal year. For a transition period
that is six months or less, but more than one month, we
would generally require the following:
Based on our reading of the AICPA International
Practices Task Force (November 25, 2003) Highlights, which included an
extract from the SEC Staff Training Manual Topic Six.II.E "Changes
in Fiscal Year End", we concluded that it would be appropriate to
provide one 20-F for the 14 months ended December 31, 2004 which would
include audited financial statements (i) for the 14 month period, and
(ii) unaudited financial statements for the 2 months ended December 31,
2003 and (iii) unaudited financial statements for the 12 months ended
December 31, 2004. (ie, one 12-month period and one 2-month period), and
sought the relief shown in example 3.b. of that extract.
Since the 12 months ended October 31, 2004 had been reviewed,
we felt that the most informative disclosure would have been for the (i)
12 months ended October 31, 2004 and (ii) 2 months ended December 31,
2004.
We also felt that the information presented in our annual
report would be more understandable and useful to readers if it were contained
in one filing as opposed to two filings (one stub-period filing and one
annual report).
The Form 20-F Transition Report would have been due at
the end of March 2005. Our Canadian attorneys had had informal conversations
with the Deputy Chief Accountant's office once we determined we had a
potential issue with the transition period filing, in June 2005. On June
22, 2005, Mr. Olinger of the SEC advised that one 14-month period with
a 12- and 2-month split would be acceptable.
We are also prepared to undertake to provide an Annual
Report on Form 20-F or Form 40-F for the year ended December 31, 2005,
on or before March 31, 2006.
a.
A transition report on Form 20-F should
be filed within the later of three months after either the end
of the transition period or the date of the issuer elected
to change its fiscal year.
b.
The transition report on Form 20-F (referred
to in a. above) should include unaudited financial statements,
reconciled to U.S. GAAP and information required by Items 3,9,
15, 16, and 17 or 18 of Form 20-F.
c.
The next annual report on Form 20-F should
include audited financial statements for this transition period.
-4-
Comment
Response
5.
Exhibit 99.1 and 99.2
Amended certifications have
been attached, and are presented as Exhibits 12.1 and 12.2.
Please revise
the certification to be consistent with the language specified
in the standard version. Please refer to the Instructions as to
the Exhibits, exhibit 12, of Form 20-F.
As requested in your comment letter, we acknowledge that:
•
the Company is responsible
for the adequacy and accuracy of the disclosure in the filing;
•
SEC staff comments
or changes to disclosure in response to staff comments do not foreclose
the Commission from taking any action with respect to the filing; and
•
the Company may
not assert staff comments as a defense in any proceeding initiated by
the Commission or any person under the federal securities laws of the
United States.
We trust the foregoing will resolve your comments, appreciating
that some of them will be dealt with in future filings. If you require any
further information, please feel free to contact the writer at 604-684-6365.
Yours truly,
ANOORAQ RESOURCES CORPORATION
/s/ Paul Mann
Paul Mann, CA
Controller and Finance Manager
cc:
McCarthy Tetrault
Jeffrey Mason, CFO