Petropavlovsk reserves up a third

An extensive exploration programme in 2010 has hauled gold miner Petropavlovsk's proven and probable reserves up by 36%.The company, formerly Peter Hambro Mining, says reserves grew to 9.1 million ounces (Moz) of gold at an average grade of 1.17 grammes per tonne (g/t) in 242 million tonnes (Mt) of ore. That's up from 6.7 Moz of gold at an average grade of 1.26 g/t of gold in 164 Mt of ore. Much of the improvement is put down to successful exploration at Malomir and Pioneer, as well as evaluation of proven and probable ore reserves for Petropavlovskoye in the Yamal, Northern Russia.Total mineral resources almost doubled, up by 96%, to 23.1Moz of gold at an average grade of 0.98g/t Au, in 732Mt of mineralised material."This significant uplift in ore reserves and mineral resources underlines the effectiveness of the group's strategy of delivering low-cost organic growth through extensive exploration work based on a deep knowledge of the regional geology and carried out by a highly qualified geological team," chief executive Pavel Maslovskiy said."We continue to invest in the future and our on-going exploration activities aim to ensure that we maintain a pipeline of projects to sustain long-term growth."