Hambledon Mining PLC Quarterly Report 30 September 2013 (6938R)

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RNS Number : 6938R

Hambledon Mining PLC

30 October 2013

Hambledon Mining Plc

("Hambledon" or "the Company")

Quarterly Report 30 September 2013

Hambledon Mining plc (AIM: HMB), the gold mining and development group, today provides its operational update for its 100 per cent owned Sekisovskoye mine for the quarter ended 30 September 2013.

Highlights include:

-- 9,161 oz of gold produced during the period - a 56 per cent increase year-on-year and a 21 per cent increase over the previous quarter

-- Continued ramp up in underground mining - 1,985 oz of gold produced during the quarter at an average grade of 4.03 grams per tonne

-- Improved average plant feed grade of 1.76 grams per tonne due to increased volume of high grade underground ore

-- Increased recovery rates following commissioning of the 7(th) Carbon-in-Leach (CIL) tank - 85.5 per cent gold recovery rate achieved during the quarter and 89.4 per cent in the month of September

Aidar Assaubayev, CEO of Hambledon Mining, commented:

"This quarter's gold production has been the highest in the Company's production history. We are pleased to see the underground mine performing well and continue to focus resources on accelerating production in coming quarters. We would like to thank all shareholders for their continuing support."

Enquiries:

 
 Hambledon Mining Plc 
  Bogdan Poustovoi, CFA (Investor Relations)    +44 (0) 207 932 2455 
 Strand Hanson (Nomad and Broker) 
  Andrew Emmott 
  James Spinney 
  Ritchie Balmer                                +44 (0) 207 409 3494 
                                                +44 207 138 3204 
 Blythe Weigh Communications 
  Tim Blythe                                     +44 (0) 7816 924626 
  Halimah Hussain                                +44 (0) 7725 978141 
  Camilla Horsfall                               +44 (0) 7817 841793

Detailed Review of Mining and Processing Operations

Production figures for three months end 30 September 2013:

 
                       July    August   September    Total 
-------------------  -------  -------  ----------  -------- 
 
 Total ore milled, 
  t                   66,739   63,973    58,856     189,568 
 Gold grade, g/t       1.75     1.96      1.55       1.76 
 Contained gold, 
  oz                  3,750    4,034      2,934     10,719 
 Gold recovery, %      84.2     84.0      89.1       85.5 
 Recovered gold, 
  oz                  3,156    3,389      2,615      9,161 
 Recovered silver, 
  oz                  3,117    3,237      2,893      9,247 
-------------------  -------  -------  ----------  --------

Of which:

 
                            July    August   September   Total 
-------------------------  ------  -------  ----------  ------- 
 
 Underground ore milled, 
  t                         6,015   9,233      2,835     18,083 
 Gold grade, g/t             4.2     4.0        3.8       4.0 
 Contained gold, oz          811    1,187       342      2,340 
 Gold recovery, %           84.2     84.0      89.1       85.5 
 Recovered gold, oz          683     997        305      1,985 
 Recovered silver, 
  oz                         783     919        201      1,902 
-------------------------  ------  -------  ----------  -------

The Company processed 189,568 tonnes of ore during the quarter, of which 18,083 tonnes was high grade underground ore. This was up 13 per cent compared to Q3 2012 (167,242 tonnes) but down 3 per cent compared to Q2 2013 (195,227 tonnes) due to time lost during maintenance work in the crushing plant and replacing of one of the crushers. Management expects this change, along with continued work on debottlenecking to further optimise performance of the processing plant.

In terms of the performance of the underground mine, 18,083 tonnes of high grade underground ore was milled during the quarter. This was an increase of 261 per cent compared to the previous quarter (5,016 tonnes), and delivered an improvement in the overall average head grade to 1.76 grams per tonne. The decrease in the amount of ore milled in September was due to scheduled waste rock removal in the underground mine to improve future access to ore bodies in accordance with the mine plan, as well as the maintenance referred to above. We expect underground ore deliveries to the processing plant to resume to full capacity in November.

Gold recoveries were also up during the quarter, averaging 85.5 per cent for the quarter, and 89.1 per cent in September. This increase was due to the installation of the 7(th) CIL tank in mid-August 2013 and the re-commissioning of the fine grinding mill Number 3 in September 2013 following its planned refurbishment.

A copy of this report will be available on the Company's website, www.hambledon-mining.com

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

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