Astur Gold Corporation: CEO's Year End 2010 Letter to Shareholders
December 15 2010 - 8:00AM
Marketwired
Astur Gold Corporation (TSX VENTURE: AST)(FRANKFURT: CDC) ("Astur
Gold" or the "Company") today issued an end of year shareholder
letter advising of its progress on the Salave gold project in
Spain. The report from CEO Cary Pinkowski follows in its complete
form:
Dear Shareholder,
I am pleased to provide an end of year report for Astur Gold
Corporation. Firstly, I'd like to express my gratitude to you, the
shareholders, for your continued support of the company. The year
2010 was a transformational year, with Astur Gold acquiring full
ownership of the Salave gold project in Spain. Salave is one of the
highest grade and largest undeveloped gold deposits in Europe.
Excellent progress is being achieved in the surrounding communities
of Tapia de Casariego and in Asturias with our social license
programs as we advance toward production. All of the necessary
elements are in place for the company to experience an upward
adjustment in our valuation for 2011. We are considered a value
company at approximately $22 per ounce relative to our comparable
peers at $139 per ounce.
Our achievements in 2010 started with our partnership with
Lundin Mining, in which we acquired the Salave gold project and
Lundin became our largest shareholder. It was a tremendous success
to recruit the top Spanish mine builder Emilo Hormaeche as
President. Emilio resides only 90 km from the deposit and calls the
region home. His success building the Tasiast gold mine
(Kinross/Redback Mining) and Aguablanca enabled him to add key
Spanish mine builders to our engineering and technical teams. Our
NI 43-101 resource estimate was updated in April confirming 17.9M
tonnes at 2.9 g/t Au for 1,683,000oz in Measured & Indicated
and 3.8M tonnes at 3.1 g/t Au for 338,000oz in Inferred. The summer
began with Haywood Securities closing a $5M round of funding in
June, and finished with Sean Roosen, CEO of Osisko, joining our
board in August. Sean's work rallying community support for the
Malartic project (now Canada's largest developing gold mine) has
been an excellent model for us in our social licensing efforts. We
have been deliberate in recruiting the highest caliber community
leaders in Asturias. Our PR team has done an exceptional job
securing regular coverage in regional and national media. While
most media entities have maintained neutrality regarding our
progress, we can share encouraging news regarding the opinion of
the community. I address the issue further in this letter in the
section regarding permitting status. We anticipate the announcement
of the completion of our scoping study on Salave with Golder
Associates in the coming weeks.
Some comments on our outlook of the headlines:
Spain
The Spanish economy has dominated headlines around the world in
recent months. The country has earned its fair portion of the
European sovereign debt contagion plaguing Europe. The Spanish
government is working feverishly to assure current and potential
Spanish debt holders that the government's austerity measures will
help turn the country around. Astur Gold's progress is largely
unaffected by this issue, and as a result we are working hard to
contribute to the solution. Our Salave project is anticipated to
directly create 250 jobs, as well as indirectly contribute to
creating an additional 250 jobs in an economy suffering over 20%
unemployment. We expect to invest over EUR120 million into the
Salave project once we receive the required approvals.
Tapia
Our core focus has been on community relations. We are making
excellent progress earning a social license for the project and
garnering public support. We have done numerous one-on-one and
large group meetings of over 50 people in the town and villages. We
are very pleased with the results of the first of three independent
surveys done in the local community. An independent research firm
surveyed 10% of the population in the area and found that the
majority of people are in favour of the mine. In the village of
Tapia de Casariego directly, support for the mine is over 66% with
an additional 5% accepting that it will open. One statistic of note
revealed through these surveys is that 92% of the population is
worried about youth emigration due to a lack of employment
opportunities (youth unemployment is over 35%). As a testament to
the demand for employment opportunities in Tapia de Casariego, we
have received over 1,000 CVs to date in a town of only 3,900
people. As a result, we are encouraging each applicant to contact
the mayor, mining minister and member of regional government to
express their support for the project in order to generate
additional jobs and stimulate the local economy.
Our team in Tapia is comprised of senior community leaders who
are working directly with project stakeholders who will be impacted
by our project, both positively and negatively. Our first
newsletter was mailed out to over 4,000 residences in the region in
September. Our December issue was sent out this week, with many
more editions planned to follow-up on project advancements at
Salave. The response to date has been positive as we have been
successful in alleviating most concerns of local residents. Astur
has created a social fund to spend on community programs or public
works, to be released as certain milestones are achieved. The
social fund is directed by the people of Tapia, for the people of
Tapia without government influence on how the money is allocated.
More details will follow in the New Year. Our mine engineering
office is based locally in Oviedo and our head office has now moved
to Tapia de Casariego.
Permit
Our mining and engineering teams have methodically reviewed all
of the available options, and concluded that a combined mining
method is most suitable for Salave due to a number of
environmental, economic and social factors. The smaller open pit
would be 350m wide, versus the 650m width of the proposed pit in
the 2004 application. Our team feels that with the hardness of the
granodirite rock we could still go down 150m in depth. This
approach optimizes the percentage of extractable ore, while
maintaining sensitivity to those concerned about a pure open pit
option. We will be applying for a 2.7km long underground drift in
2011 for exploration purposes that can easily be expanded into an
operational mining drift with conveyor belts. Full and final
feasibility will commence early in 2011. Grades discovered in the
most recent drill hole of 34 g/t Au over 40m certainly support an
underground operation. The deposit remains open at depth and to the
North West. Our team is already installing weather stations for the
environmental impact study.
Gold
We remain optimistic on our outlook for Gold, and are in full
agreement with the almost unanimous bullish sentiments of metals
analysts. Gold is now breaking out in Euro terms, which will
positively impact our economics in the future. The gold price will
remain strong in the coming years while the sovereign debt crisis
spreads from country to country. Countries must first run surpluses
before they can even think of paying down their debt.
Upcoming Milestones 2011
Moving Forward
Our engineers are working hard to reduce the time to production
once permits are granted. It is anticipated to take 18-24 months to
develop Salave, however, we are aiming to reduce this timeline upon
final approval.
We will continue to work closely with the Government of Asturias
and the people of Tapia to expeditiously move Salave into
production for the benefit of all stakeholders and shareholders. We
are very confident and excited to be working in Spain. In this
climate where governments all over the world continue to devalue
their currencies and seek bailouts, the outlook is very bright for
the gold mining industry.
We intend to grow our asset base and are evaluating gold
prospects in Western Europe and West Africa. We look forward to
putting Salave into production as soon as possible, and will
continue to return exceptional value to our shareholders.
Please stay in touch with us by visiting www.asturgold.com,
emailing us at info@asturgold.com or calling us at +1-604-694-1600.
We encourage shareholders and stakeholders to visit us in Tapia de
Casariego, Spain.
Yours sincerely,
Cary Pinkowski
CEO
Astur Gold Corporation
Contacts: Astur Gold Corporation Cary Pinkowski CEO
+1-604-694-1600 +1-604-694-1663 (FAX) info@asturgold.com
www.asturgold.com
Astron Connect (TSXV:AST)
Historical Stock Chart
From Oct 2024 to Nov 2024
Astron Connect (TSXV:AST)
Historical Stock Chart
From Nov 2023 to Nov 2024