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28 Jul 2011 07:00
Norseman Gold Plc. / Epic: NGL / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining & Exploration
28 July 2011
NORSEMAN GOLD PLC
('Norseman Gold' or 'the Company')
Resource Statement
Norseman Gold, the AIM-listed and ASX-listed Australian gold production and exploration company, is pleased to announce its updated Resource Statement as at 31 March 2011 for its Norseman Gold Project, located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia.
Highlights
·; Reserves remain stable at 420,000 ounces of gold. Total Reserve tonnes increase to 2.3 million tonnes at a grade of 5.7g/t gold.
·; Resources increase in the measured category by 13% but decrease overall by 9% to 3,400,000 ounces of gold. Total Resources are 22 million tonnes at a grade of 4.7g/t gold.
The annual review of the Company's Resources and Reserves at its Norseman Gold Project has produced a stable reserve and a 9% reduction in resource, mainly due to the re-assessment of the North Royal resource external to the current pit design and of deeper resources previously quoted as surface resources that are now quoted as underground resources.
Reserve ounces, as a total, remained unchanged except there was a significant increase (122%) in the open pit reserve due to the inclusion of the ounces from the North Royal open pit. Underground reserve ounces decreased by 14%, while the tonnage remained unchanged.
Resource ounces reduced by 9% overall with the major impact being the 62% reduction in inferred open pit resource due to the re-assessment of the North Royal resource outside the current pit design. The ounces reviewed were either removed from the inventory or re-allocated to underground which resulted in a 6% increase in the equivalent underground resource. Underground measured resource and the surface indicated resource both increased in ounces.
A gold price of A$1,300 per ounce has been utilised in assessing the economic viability of the Company's Resource and Reserve.
The Company had a number of projects that had been drilled during the year that it expected would be further explored and add to the resource base in the next few years namely Butterfly Deeps, Cobbler North, Crown reef, Harlequin South reef and Royal Coachman reef. These projects have had initial drilling conducted and the Company is expected to return to them once the current four mines are operating at acceptable production profiles. Planned drilling programmes at the mines commissioned in the last financial year are expected to both increase existing resources and reserves, and extend the current mine plans.
The Company drilled in excess of 77,000 metres in this financial year of which approximately 60,000 metres comprised resource and exploration drilling.
TABLE 1: March 2011 Open Pit & Underground Resource and Reserve Summary
Summary for Norseman | Open Pit - 31 Mar 2011 | Underground - 31 Mar 2011 | Total | ||||||
Tonnes | Grade g/t gold | Ounces gold | Tonnes | Grade g/t gold | Ounces gold | Tonnes | Grade g/t gold | Ounces gold | |
Reserve - Proved | 13,000 | 1.8 | 760 | 320,000 | 8.3 | 85,000 | 330,000 | 8.5 | 90,000 |
Reserve - Probable | 1,000,000 | 3.1 | 99,000 | 990,000 | 7.2 | 230,000 | 2,000,000 | 5.1 | 330,000 |
Total Reserve | 1,000,000 | 3.1 | 100,000 | 1,300,000 | 7.7 | 320,000 | 2,300,000 | 5.7 | 420,000 |
Resource - Measured | 5,000,000 | 0.7 | 110,000 | 580,000 | 12.3 | 230,000 | 5,600,000 | 1.9 | 340,000 |
Resource - Indicated | 4,100,000 | 2.7 | 360,000 | 2,600,000 | 9.0 | 750,000 | 6,700,000 | 5.1 | 1,100,000 |
Resource - Inferred | 3,200,000 | 2.8 | 290,000 | 6,900,000 | 7.7 | 1,700,000 | 10,000,000 | 6.2 | 2,000,000 |
Total Resource | 12,000,000 | 1.9 | 760,000 | 10,000,000 | 8.3 | 2,700,000 | 22,000,000 | 4.7 | 3,400,000 |
Notes:
1. As is required the Resources and Reserves are calculated and reported in accordance with the Australasian Code for Reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves, The JORC Code, 2004 Edition.
2. Resources are inclusive of reserves.
3. Resources and reserves are quoted to two significant figures so inconsistencies may exist within the table.
Competent Persons Statements
The compilation of information in this report, and calculation, or review, of Reserves in this report, along with supervision of the calculation of Resources at the Bullen and Harlequin Mines, has been undertaken by Mr Russell McBeath BEng (Mining), who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Principal Mining Engineer of the Company. Mr McBeath has over 19 years of mining and evaluation experience in a variety of mineral deposit styles and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr McBeath is accepting overall responsibility for this estimate and is satisfied that the work of other contributors is acceptable. Mr McBeath consents to the information in this report being used and quoted by the company for reporting and other purposes in the context in which it appears.
Resources other than those at the Bullen and Harlequin mines included in this report were either calculated by or reviewed by Mr Jonathan Sharp BSc. MSc. (Hons), who is a Member of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, and the Resource Geologist for the Company. Mr Sharp has over 15 years of Mining experience in a variety of mineral deposit styles and has sufficient experience which is relevant to the style of mineralisation and type of deposit under consideration and to the activity which he is undertaking to qualify as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 Edition of the "Australasian Code for reporting of Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves". Mr Sharp consents to the information in this report being used and quoted by the company for reporting and other purposes in the context in which it appears.
Independent Reviewer
The Mineral Resource inventory and Reserves statement included in this report has been independently reviewed and audited by Dr Spero Carras of Carras Mining Pty Ltd, an acknowledged expert with 35 years of experience in the field of vein gold evaluation and gold within banded iron formations. Dr Carras's association with the Norseman orebodies began in 1976.
Dr Carras is a fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and qualifies as a Competent Person as defined in the 2004 edition of the "Australian Code for Reporting Exploration Results, Mineral Resources and Ore Reserves" and consents to the inclusion of the information in the form and context in which it appears.
Forward-Looking Statements
This regulatory news release contains certain forward looking statements, which include assumptions with respect to future plans, results and capital expenditures. The reader is cautioned that assumptions used in the preparation of such information may prove to be incorrect. All such forward looking statements involve substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties, certain of which are beyond the Company's control. Please refer to the Company's Admission Document available from the Company's web site for a list of risk factors. The Company's actual results could differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, these forward-looking statements and, accordingly, no assurances can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will transpire or occur, or if any of them do so, what benefits the Company will derive there from. All subsequent forward-looking statements, whether written or oral, attributable to the Company or persons acting on its behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by these cautionary statements. Furthermore, the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as at the date of this news release.
**ENDS**
For further information visit www.norsemangoldplc.com or contact:
Barry Cahill | Norseman Gold Plc | Tel: +61 (0) 8 9473 2200 |
Guy Wilkes | Ocean Equities Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)20 7786 4370 |
Nandita Sahgal | Seymour Pierce Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)20 7107 8000 |
Jeremy Stephenson | Seymour Pierce Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)20 7107 8000 |
Hugo de Salis | St Brides Media & Finance Ltd | Tel: +44 (0)20 7236 1177 |
investors@ngold.com.au |
Note to editors:
Norseman Gold plc is an AIM listed and ASX listed Australian gold production company, which acquired the Norseman Gold Project in May 2007, Australia's longest continually running gold operation. The Norseman Gold Project is located in the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia in the highly prospective Norseman-Wiluna greenstone belt, 725km east of Perth and 186km from Kalgoorlie.
Gold was first found on the Norseman field in 1894 and over the last 65 years, it has produced over 5.5 million ounces of gold. The mine is currently producing from three high-grade narrow-vein underground mines - the Bullen, the Harlequin and the OK Declines and developing the North Royal Open Pit. Currently, it has a total resource inventory of 3.4 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 4.7 g/t.
The tenements cover a 2,180 sq km area centred on the Norseman Township. The landholding comprises 221 tenements consisting of 16 Exploration Licences, 107 Mining Licences, 64 Prospecting Licences, 15 Miscellaneous Licences, 5 Exploration Licence Applications, 13 Prospecting Licence Applications and 1 Mining Lease Application.
The Company's strategy is focused on extending the mine life through the conversion of resources into reserves and identifying additional resources and obtaining additional ore for the operating mill through the development of additional mines. The Company has fifteen advanced resource projects under review of which three have pre-development work being undertaken on them. It is anticipated that at least one, if not all the pre-development projects will develop into mining propositions.
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