06 August 2003 06:35
HGM TO START WORKING DARASUN GOLD DEPOSITS IN 1ST-HALF 2004
Britain's Highland Gold Mining, which owns a number of gold- extraction assets in Russia, plans to begin
industrial production at the Darasun gold deposit in the Chita region in the first half of next year.
The HGM press service has announced that reconstruction and upgrading work on above and below-ground infrastructure
is continuing. Plans call for processing 100,000 tonnes of ore and producing around 1.2 tonnes of gold. When the mine is
running at full steam in 2005, the plan is to annually process 450,000 tonnes of ore and produce 3.7 tonnes of gold. The
cost of extracting one troy ounce at the Darasun deposit is estimated at $190 by company specialists.
The press service reported that overall investment in Darasun has come to $9.4 million. The stringing of 35 kilowatt
electrical lines has been completed, the foundation for a gold-recovery plant and half the work has been done on
outfitting a tailing dump.
HGM plans to invest in the Darasun project's development another $13 million before the year is out.
The mining at the deposit is being done by Darasun Rudnik, 100% of the stock in which belongs to HGM.
Darasun Rudnik won a competition late last December for the right to use the ores from two gold deposits-Darasun and
Teremky-which are sited on the territory of the Darasun ore field in the Chita region, with the goals of extracting gold
and associated components.
Overall category A+B+C1+C2 reserves at the Darasun deposits (Darasun, Teremky and Talatui) weigh in at 101.289 tonnes
of gold with average ore gold content of 10.9 grams/tonne.
Licensing for the Talatui deposit, which so far has not been developed, belongs to ZAO Talatui, which HGM also owns
outright.
Highland Gold also owns licenses for developing the Novoshirokinskoye gold and complex metals deposit, also in The
Chita region. The company's press service announced that HGM specialists and the Zabaikal scientific research
institute, the design organization ZabailkaltsevetmetNIPproyekt and the Zabaikal scientific-technical and geological
community are preparing a feasibility study for the project.
Work on this study will be wrapped up by the end of the year. Right now, the mine at the Novoshirokinskoye is in
mothballs. Development there is slated to begin in 2005.
HGM's main shareholders are the British investment house Fleming Family & Partners, which holds around 40%
of the company stock, and also the South African company Harmony Gold, Ltd. (30%).
Russdragmet runs HGM gold projects in Russia. It was founded in November of last year.
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