Great Basin Gold provides operational update
December 15 2011 - 8:13AM
PR Newswire (Canada)
VANCOUVER, Dec. 16, 2011 /CNW/ - Great Basin Gold Ltd, ("Great
Basin" or the "Company"), (JSE: GBG) today provided an operational
update for its Burnstone Mine in South Africa. The purpose is to
provide an update on operational progress, mainly in development
activities and the establishment of stoping blocks available for
mining at Burnstone.
_____________________________________________________________________
| | First 2 months of quarter | | |
|_______________________________| | | | | | % | | | Q3 2011| Q4
2011|Variance|
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Waste development (meters) | 877| 831| 5 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Ore development (meters) | 1,756| 2,259| 29 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Stoping (square meters) | 4,573| 3,729| (18) |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Contained Au oz extracted - | 3,300| | | |development ** | |
4,140| 25 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Contained Au oz extracted - | 1,440| | | |stoping ** | | 1,364|
(5) |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Stoping square meters | 5,932| | | |available | | 8,630| 45 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Contained average grade Au |0.05 (1.45 g/t)| | | |oz/tonne (g/t) -
development| |0.06 (1.86 g/t)| 28 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Contained average grade Au |0.09 (2.89 g/t)| | | |oz/tonne (g/t) -
stoping | |0.10 (3.15 g/t)| 9 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Tonnes milled | 142,246| 121,974| (14) |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Recovered Au oz | 3,903| 4,467| 14 |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
|Recovery % Au | 89.6%| 88.3%| (1) |
|____________________________|_______________|_______________|________|
** 95% Mine Call Factor Burnstone Mine continued to make
good progress in a number of areas, notably in ore development
which increased by 29% and in contained gold extracted (development
and stoping), which increased by 16% compared to the similar period
in the previous quarter. The lower square meters stoped follows the
announcement that the stope configurations would be changed to
improve operational efficiencies that will show in cash costs,
dilution and recovery grades. More significantly, the number of
square meters available for stoping increased by 45%. Tonnes milled
decreased by some 14%, mainly due to the depletion of the low grade
development ore stockpile in the previous quarter. The Company has
also closed the previously announced US$150 million credit facility
provided by Credit Suisse Ag and Standard Chartered Bank and the
funds were drawn down. The Company has executed the associated zero
cost collars (ZCC) hedge structure, which replaces the previously
remaining 91,250 US$1,705 call options as well as the unexecuted
40,000 call options under the standby facility announced in August
2011, totaling 131,250 ounces. The new structure includes 82,737
call options priced at US$1,890 as well as a further 82,737 call
options priced at US$1,930. The delivery of these ounces is spread
over the 5 years ending December 2016. The graph below indicates
the Company's total hedge exposure after executing the restructured
ZCC. It includes the ZCC structure executed in February 2011 which
also has a collar price of US$1,930. The news release with the
graph included is posted on the Company's website at:
http://www.grtbasin.com/news/Great-Basin-Gold-Provides-Operational-Update/index.html?&re=1.
Ferdi Dippenaar, CEO and President commented; "We are making good
progress with increasing the rate of ore development required to
increase the number of stopes available for mining at Burnstone.
The decision to increase the size of the mining blocks was the
correct one, with resultant operational efficiencies already
starting to show. Current stoping continues to confirm that the
decision to use Long Hole Stoping as preferred mining method was
correct. In addition, concluding the debt facility provides the
necessary flexibility to ensure that the delayed production build
up can be funded." About Great Basin Gold Great Basin Gold is a
mining company engaged in the exploration and development of gold
properties. The Company is currently focused on its two producing
mines in the world's two richest gold regions: the Hollister
Project on the Carlin Trend in Nevada, USA and the Burnstone Mine
in the Witwatersrand goldfield of South Africa. No regulatory
authority has approved or disapproved the information contained in
this news release. Cautionary and Forward Looking Statement
Information This document contains "forward-looking statements"
that were based on Great Basin's expectations, estimates and
projections as of the dates as of which those statements were made.
Generally, these forward-looking statements can be identified by
the use of forward-looking terminology such as "outlook",
"anticipate", "project", "target", "believe", "estimate", "expect",
"intend", "should" and similar expressions. Forward-looking
statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties
and other factors that may cause the Company's actual results,
level of activity, performance or achievements to be materially
different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking
statements. These include but are not limited to: -- uncertainties
and costs related to the Company's exploration and development
activities, such as those associated with determining whether
mineral resources or reserves exist on a property; -- uncertainties
related to feasibility studies that provide estimates of expected
or anticipated costs, expenditures and economic returns from a
mining project; uncertainties related to expected production rates,
timing of production and the cash and total costs of production and
milling; -- uncertainties related to the ability to obtain
necessary licenses, permits, electricity, surface rights and title
for development projects; -- operating and technical difficulties
in connection with mining development activities; -- uncertainties
related to the accuracy of our mineral reserve and mineral resource
estimates and our estimates of future production and future cash
and total costs of production, and the geotechnical or
hydrogeological nature of ore deposits, and diminishing quantities
or grades of mineral reserves; -- uncertainties related to
unexpected judicial or regulatory proceedings; -- changes in, and
the effects of, the laws, regulations and government policies
affecting our mining operations, particularly laws, regulations and
policies relating to o mine expansions, environmental protection
and associated compliance costs arising from exploration, mine
development, mine operations and mine closures; o expected
effective future tax rates in jurisdictions in which our operations
are located; o the protection of the health and safety of mine
workers; and o mineral rights ownership in countries where our
mineral deposits are located, including the effect of the Mineral
and Petroleum Resources Development Act (South Africa); -- changes
in general economic conditions, the financial markets and in the
demand and market price for gold, silver and other minerals and
commodities, such as diesel fuel, coal, petroleum coke, steel,
concrete, electricity and other forms of energy, mining equipment,
and fluctuations in exchange rates, particularly with respect to
the value of the U.S. dollar, Canadian dollar and South African
rand; -- unusual or unexpected formation, cave-ins, flooding,
pressures, and precious metals losses (and the risk of inadequate
insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks);
-- changes in accounting policies and methods we use to report our
financial condition, including uncertainties associated with
critical accounting assumptions and estimates; -- environmental
issues and liabilities associated with mining including processing
and stock piling ore; -- geopolitical uncertainty and political and
economic instability in countries which we operate; and -- labour
strikes, work stoppages, or other interruptions to, or difficulties
in, the employment of labour in markets in which we operate mines,
or environmental hazards, industrial accidents or other events or
occurrences, including third party interference that interrupt the
production of minerals in our mines. For further information on
Great Basin Gold, investors should review the Company's annual Form
40-F filing with the United States Securities and Exchange
Commission www.sec.gov and home jurisdiction filings that are
available at www.sedar.com.
Great Basin Gold Ltd. CONTACT: For additional details
on Great Basin and its gold properties,pleasevisit the Company's
website at www.grtbasin.com or contact InvestorServices: Tsholo
Serunye in South Africa 27 (0) 11 301 1800Michael Curlook in North
America 1 (888) 633 9223Barbara Cano at Breakstone Group in the USA
1 (646) 452 2334
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